Region
Women in border settlements face greater risk of HIV/AIDS (The Star, 20/05) -
Southern Africa's notoriously porous borders and border settlements have
increased the regional spread of HIV/Aids. This was revealed yesterday by
Everjoice Win, the international gender co-ordinator for Actionaid, who
emphasised that women were most at risk. Speaking at a conference on HIV/Aids
and poverty in Pretoria, she said women's rights need to be protected. She added
that prevention strategies needed stronger messages to empower women to change
their lives. "We must create a sense of awareness among women as to their rights
regarding HIV," she said. Lovemore Mhuriyengwe, director of Project Support
Group (PSG), a non-governmental organisation specialising in HIV/Aids research,
said regional mobility played a major role in transmission. "A study by PSG has
shown that border towns and migrant-labour transit towns have high HIV rates,"
he said. Mhuriyengwe said social conditions in the border towns acted as a
catalyst for the spread of the pandemic. "Borders often juxtapose rich and poor
countries and communities, creating economic inequalities that often attract
poor rural communities, particularly women." Mhuriyengwe said these
circumstances created an environment for commercial sex. "Men passing through
these settlements have money and are surrounded by low-income, largely female
communities. These men often seek commercial sex, and the women provide it," he
said. Studies in South Africa have shown that border and migrant community
settlements have a high prevalence of HIV/Aids. The border town of Musina, a
major point of exit and entry for Southern Africa in Limpopo province, has a HIV
rate in pregnant women of more than 20%, compared with the provincial figure of
about 14%."Countries that share borders with South Africa show a similar
pattern, which is a concerning trend in terms of HIV transmission," Mhuriyengwe
said. He added that HIV prevention programmes were urgently required among
low-income women in these communities.

Health professional emigration and compensation (SABC News, 18/05) -Rich countries that are poaching health professionals from
developing countries might soon be forced to compensate countries they poach
from. This is part of the Draft Resolution on International Migration of Health
Personnel that is being sponsored by South Africa at the World Health Assembly
in Geneva, Switzerland. South Africa is expected to present the resolution to
the Assembly. Every year thousands of trained health care providers are lured to
rich countries by money and better working conditions - leaving Africa with
depleted staff. The African Union (AU) health ministers say this is making it
more difficult to strengthen health systems and improve the lives of their
people. The ministers are concerned that the tragedies of the brain drain,
HIV/Aids, TB, Malaria and other such pandemics will leave them with no health
care workers. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the newly elected vice-president of
Africa to the World Health Assembly, says they want government to government
agreements that will facilitate health personnel exchange programmes in order to
manage the brain drain. The resolution also proposes that an international
convention on the recruitment of health personnel be drawn up. However, it is
the suggestion of compensation that is causing a huge debate. "The compensation
that we have been talking about - and this is something that we still need to
flash out - was that the developed countries in particular because they don't
have the resources and they don't have good human resources plans it they come
and recruit from Africa, surely they must compensate Africa on one form or the
other," says Tshabalala-Msimang. The draft resolution was not clear on who
should be compensating who. Botswana, which has a lot of Zimbabweans in its
health facilities, is reluctant to sign it because it is concerned that this
might mean they also have to pay up. Lesego Matsumi, Botswana's health minister,
says it should be made clear that only developed countries should cough up. "I
believe that the nature of compensation should be in terms of training. Where we
say to them for every nurse that you take, go train two of our people. I don't
really believe much in monetary compensation," he says. Canada, United Kingdom,
Saudi Arabia and Austria are some of the countries that are poaching health
workers. Pierre Pettigrew, the Canadian health minister, has said his country
does not support any organised way of soliciting doctors and nurses. More than
20 countries have already signed the South African sponsored resolution and more
are expected to come on board.

Battle on to win back professionals (Business Day, 05/05) -Each year, hundreds of African students and
professionals leave the continent to study or to seek greener pastures abroad,
especially in countries like the UK, US, Canada and Australia. This has been
attributed to the many conflicts and the economic collapse that parts of the
continent have been experiencing over the years. Those who have left the
continent refuse to return either because of better living conditions in their
adopted countries, or intolerable conditions in their countries of origin. This
has resulted in a massive "brain drain" for Africa, which has in turn created
huge economic, political and social deficiencies in many African societies. It
is estimated that up to 5-million African professionals doctors, teachers,
engineers, technicians and nurses live and work outside the continent. As a
consequence of this migration of skilled labour to the west, Africa spends
billions of dollars each year on salaries for foreign experts who provide
"technical assistance" in areas such as health, education and science. For
instance, Nigeria has more doctors plying their trade abroad than at home,
leaving huge skills gaps in its own hospitals. SA similarly exports thousands of
doctors and nurses abroad annually. It is a shame that our governments should
spend such vast sums on foreign expatriates, to provide the same kind of
services that could be provided by their many highly skilled professionals.
Migration as a labour market adjustment mechanism can be of benefit to both
exporting and importing countries if properly managed. However, it is a proven
fact that in Africa the "brain drain" has had deleterious effects on domestic
economies. Professionals who leave the continent have found it difficult to
return to share the skills and insights gained abroad for the benefit of their
countries. Many professional Sierra Leoneans, Somalis, Liberians and Congolese
have fled conflicts in their own nations to settle abroad. The African Union
(AU) the only pancontinental organisation has recognised the negative effect the
steady migration of professionals is having on the continent and the important
role that those living abroad can play in turning this brain drain into brain
gain. Some initiatives have been developed to engage with groups in the diaspora
to develop the continent. Among these are the Sullivan initiatives and the
AfricanAmerican summits that seek to unite people of African heritage with
Africa and to build bridges between Africa and the world. Also, AU civil society
conferences have sought to forge partnerships between the AU and African civil
society organisations in promoting peace, security, development, human rights
and democracy on the continent, including with individuals from the diaspora. By
far the AU's most important recent initiative was the amendment made to its
Constitutive Act last year. African leaders agreed to amend article three of the
act to "invite and encourage the full participation of the African diaspora as
an important part of the continent". This significant step gives the AU
Commission the mandate and the political clout it needs to design programmes to
ensure that Africans in the diaspora also play an important role in revitalising
the continent. It also gives legs to the New Partnership for Africa's
Development initiative to reverse some of the "haemorrhaging of Africa's best
talent to begin building human capacity in Africa", as Mohan Kaul of the
Commonwealth Business Council puts it. At a recent meeting on these issues held
in Addis Ababa last month, the AU decided to put measures in place to ensure
this new mandate is realised and implemented. The AU seeks to create an African
Human Resource bank. This will be a database of all African professionals on the
continent and in the diaspora. It is not only at the continental level that such
initiatives are needed. Member states should also assist the AU by creating
enabling environments in their respective countries for African professionals to
fulfil their human potential. Policies and programmes should be designed to
attract and encourage professionals to return and to stay at home. Governments
should provide favourable working conditions, up to date working facilities,
attractive pay packages, adequate social amenities and security. African
governments must also relax their stifling, inflexible bureaucratic processes
that make it close to impossible for highly-skilled professionals to enter the
job market at home. This is not an impossible goal to achieve. There are many
African countries that have, by sound macroeconomic management and equitable
economic policies, managed to attract back home and keep its professionals.
Botswana is one such country, and the rest of Africa should learn from this
example. Obviously, reversing Africa's brain drain cannot be achieved overnight.
It can also not be the responsibility of only one generation, but of many yet
unborn. Therefore, if we are to achieve the African renaissance of having the
best African minds under one African sun we should be prepared to make this a
battle of generations.

UNHCR repatriates Angolan refugees in Zambia (Luena, Angop,
21/05) - About 40.000 Angolan refugees living in
the neighbouring Republic of Zambia will be repatriated, as from next June 15th,
by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in the ambit of
the voluntary repatriation process. The decision has emerged from the fourth
tripartite meeting of the technical commission of both countries, held on May
19th-20th in Solwezi province, Zambia, during which the delegations discussed
and arranged the operative proceedures for the start of the process. The Angolan
refugees will be transported by road and air by the International Migration
Organisation (IMO), from camps of Maheba, which shelters 18.000 citizens,
Mayukwayukwa (12.000), Nangweshi (8.000) and Ukwimi (2.000). Matters regarding
the accommodation, transport to their home areas, health and birth registry are
in charge of the Angolan authorities and their partners.With the reduction of
food aid by the World Food Programme (WFP) in Angola, UNHCR in Zambia guaranteed
a three months ration for these citizens. Concerning the improvement of roads,
the both sides committed themselves to rehabilitate 86 kilometres of the border
route within three weeks, before the start of the process. On the other hand,
the Zambian authorities are carrying out, from this Friday to the coming
December, a registry campaign of Angolan refugees who are not living in camps,
in order to repatriating them in the next operation.

Angola halts mass expulsions of Congolese (Luanda, Sapa-AFP, 21/05)
- Angolan authorities have agreed to halt the mass expulsions of Congolese for
45 days following talks with the government in Kinshasa, a newspaper reported
Friday. The decision followed a joint meeting on defense and security in the
capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, said Jornal de Angola quoting an
official statement. Angola has expelled some 120,000 Congolese for diamond
trafficking over the past five months and have rounded up 3,500 west Africans to
send them home soon, a UN humanitarian report said separately. The UN bureau for
humanitarian affairs criticised the mass expulsions, saying they violated "basic
international standards" of human rights. "More than 120,000 illegal Congolese
workers have been expelled and 3,500 nationals from west Africa have been
rounded up and are awaiting repatriation to their respective countries by
plane," said the report. The UN humanitarian affairs bureau said that women and
young girls were raped during the crackdown that the Angolan government said was
to put an end to diamond trafficking and other "activities deemed harmful to the
Angolan economy." DRC Interior Minister Theophile Mbemba last month traveled to
Luanda to appeal to the Angolan government to put a halt to the mass expulsions,
arguing that his country could not cope with the influx. The expulsions peaked
in early April with a daily influx of about 2,500 people into regions of DRC,
where water, food and housing are scarce, according to UN relief officials.

Luanda announces 45 day suspension of expulsions (Kinshasa, Irin, 20/05)
- Angola announced on Wednesday a 45-day suspension of Congolese people working
illegally in its diamond mines. The announcement was made at the end of a joint
security conference in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC). "After the 45-day period, the Angolan authorities will inform their
Congolese counterparts before resuming the expulsions," the officials said in a
communiqué issued at the end of the conference. Angolan and Congolese government
ministers, governors of the bordering provinces, as well as immigration and
security officials from both countries attended the meeting. The UN Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 80,000 Congolese
have been expelled from Angola since the beginning of the year. Congolese
authorities have described the conditions of the expulsions as "inhuman".
"During the last wave of expulsions, some expellees were reportedly wounded by
bullets fired at close range by Angolan police and security forces," Olivier
Eyenga, the OCHA liaison officer, said. Wednesday's conference was the third
between government officials of both countries to discuss the expulsions. The
others were held in February and April, in Angola. A senior Congolese Ministry
of Foreign Affairs official, who requested anonymity, said future expulsions
would only involve Congolese living illegally in Angola's diamond mining areas.
In addition, the official said, expulsions would only be carried out after
negotiations between the two governments. The official added that future
expulsions would be preformed in a manner that respected human dignity,
international law and all agreements signed by the two countries. The official
told IRIN that the conference had also discussed the issue of rebel activity in
Angola and DRC. Gendarmes in the southeastern province of Katanga had been
implicated in a rebellion against the government of the late Congolese
president, Mobutu Sese Seko. The Katangese soldiers had been members of a
secessionist movement in that province and fled to Angola in the 1970s. Former
Congolese armies - Forces armées zaïroises (ex-FAZ) and the Forces armées
congolaises (ex-FAC) - had also staged military operations to destabilise parts
of Angola near the DRC and the Republic of Congo. The official said some 800
Katangese gendarmes and 3,000 ex-FAZ and ex-FAC soldiers, who had been disarmed,
remained in Angola.

Expulsions to DRC decline (Angola Peace Monitor, 20/05)
- The number of foreign diamond miners being expelled from Angola for illegal
mining has dropped to a trickle following the completion of "Operação Brilhante"
in which the Angolan army forced up to 126,000 people, mainly Congolese, from
the Lundas region across the border into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
However, the United Nations has warned that the operation may now be extended to
Uige province. The forced removal of the illegal miners has resulted in 67,000
Congolese being registered in the DRC by local crisis committees after entering
into Bandundu and Western Kasai Provinces. In response to the expulsions, WFP,
UNICEF, and the NGO Caritas has been distributing emergency rations. There have
been allegations that the Angolan army used the excuse of searching for illicit
diamonds to commit acts of sexual abuse, as well as other forms of mistreatment.
There have also been reports of abuse by the Congolese police.Operação Brilhante
is intended to curtail illegal mining and illicit diamond smuggling in the
diamond-rich provinces of Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul. There is a long history of
Congolese participation in the cross border diamond trade, and during the years
that UNITA controlled much of the area over 100,000 diggers were brought in to
work for the rebels. Whilst the expulsion of the Congolese has been welcomed by
some local residents, there is a certain amount of regionalism, with complaints
that people from the Lundas are being excluded from diamond mining and trading
by people from Luanda or abroad who have access to the proper licences, and that
private security companies and the Angolan army are responsible for widespread
harassment. These allegations are detailed in a recent report by the Institute
for Strategic Studies. The report "War, peace and diamonds in Angola: Popular
perceptions of the diamond industry in the Lundas" concludes that "the end of
the armed conflict between the Angolan government and UNITA has provided the
first opportunity since independence for the creation of a stable and regulated
environment, in which Angola in general, and the Lunda provinces in particular,
might be able to benefit from the diamond wealth of the region. Attaining this
objective would involve the initiation of a transparent process for the
allocation of diamond concessions, with room both for commercial exploitation
and garimpo [artisanal]; a transparent system of revenue management; legally
enforced fair labour practices for employees of the large commercial companies;
and a level of social investment befitting the region's needs. Social investment
ought to take into account the training needs of the diamond industry, so as to
improve local people's employment prospects in the industry".It continues: "In
reality, none of this has happened. Despite the notional return of peace to the
Lundas, the management of the diamond industry retains many of the
characteristics that it acquired during the period when the diamond fields were
both a prize and a weapon in the civil war: the control of the diamond fields
and their populations by force of arms; the absence of any kind of functioning
legal framework to protect the rights of diamond workers and the population at
large; the lack of any functioning civil administration (beyond the level of
mere bureaucracy) in most parts of the Lunda provinces; and the domination of
the Angolan diamond trade by secretive networks operating on the margins of the
law, but ultimately to the benefit of the members of political elites. At the
same time, Angola itself continues to be defrauded as inadequate controls allow
unknown but substantial quantities of diamonds to leave the country illegally.
In fact, far from occasioning a fundamental change in the pattern of
exploitation in the diamond fields of the Lundas, the end of the war has served
to legitimise the status quo in the eyes of international observers and
participants in the industry".

Army chief considers situation along border with Zambia as calm (Luanda, Angop,
20/05) - The Chief of Staff of the Angolan Armed
Forces (FAA), Agostinho Nelumba "Sanjar", regarded as calm the situation along
the border with Zambia. The military official made this statement to press,
today, in Luanda, at the end of a meeting carried out in the National Defence
Ministry, between high-ranking officers of the Republics of Angola and of
Zambia, in the light of the visit to the country by the Commander of the Zambian
Army, Isaac Soda Arizona Chissuzi. Agostinho Nelumba "Sanjar" highlighted that
regular meetings, of regional commands have not reported serious problems, also
referring that the majority of the illegal immigrants, in small number, come to
Angola for trade. The Angolan Army Chief also said that the two countries joint
commissions have given special attention to activity along the border guarded by
the armed forces, and until this moment there are no changes in border
vigilance`s structure, he concluded. Isaac Soda Arizona Chissuzi, who is ahead
of a delegation which arrived in Luanda on Tuesday, for a work visit, said that
in his country there have been violations of borders by people, who carry out
illegal trade of diamonds taken from Angola. Concerning this issue, he referred
that the authorities are working in order to control the situation, which he
considered as alarming, besides the free circulation along the common border. In
fulfilling his programme Commander Isaac Soda Arizona Chissuzi already met with
the Angolan Defence Minister, Kundy Payhama, as well as carried out visits to
the General Staffs of the Army and the National Air Force, where he learnt on
the functioning of these units of the Angolan Armed Forces. Angola shares 1.100
km of its border with the Republic of Zambia. Besides meetings with the commands
of the Army Staffs of the three branches of FAA, the Zambian delegation has also
agended visits to military units, as well as to historic, touristic and cultural
sites.

Angolan refugees begin journey home from Namibia (Windhoek, AFP, 18/05)
- Some 200 Angolan refugees began the journey home on Tuesday from Namibia, the
first of some 10,000 displaced who are to return in the coming months, UN
officials said. The Angolans will cross the border on Thursday to return home to
the southern province of Cunene, UNHCR official Esegiel Xamseb told AFP by phone
from the Osire refugee camp, north of Windhoek. Some 90,000 refugees from
countries neighboring Angola are to return home in May and June as part of a
second wave of repatriations organised by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
and Angolan authorities. Refugee returns were halted last year, when rains
damaged the roads in Angola. "The convoy left by mid-morning and will reach the
Namibian border post at Oshikango, where they will overnight and complete
immigrations and customs formalities on Wednesday", Xamseb said. "They will
enter Angola on Thursday via the Santa Clara border post opposite Oshikango to
go back home to the Cunene Province", he said. Xamseb said that 200 Angolans on
average will leave the Osire camp every week to go back home with a view to
ensuring the return of 10,000 refugees this year, double the number that went
back last year. Half a million Angolans fled their country during its
devastating 27-year civil war that ended with a peace pact in 2002. The World
Food Programme warned earlier this month that the returning refugees were facing
dire conditions in war-torn Angola. "In places like Cazombo (eastern Angola),
they are returning to a deserted town. There is no electricity, no water, no
schools. The roads are in a bad condition and there are very few medical
services," said WFP spokesman Mike Huggins. "It's going to be a very, very
difficult return," he told AFP. Angolan rebels and the government reached a
peace accord in April 2002 following the death of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi.
During the second wave of UN-assisted refugee return, up to 10,000 refugees from
Namibia are to return home beginning in mid-May and up to 40,000 from Zambia by
mid-June, according to WFP.

Over 5000 illegal foreigners leave Cabinda (Cabinda, Angop, 17/05)
- At least 5150 foreign citizens who were living illegally in Angola`s far
northern Cabinda province, for more than 13 years have returned voluntarily as
from April to the first quarter of this month, to their respective countries,
through the common borders of Massabi, Necuto, Tando Zinze, Beira Nova,
Tendequela and Yema districts. From this number, about 4.954 were from DR of
Congo and other 85 from Congo Brazzaville. In the ambit of the searching
operation were expelled for staying in the region illegally, in the same period,
nearly 1137 foreign citizens, being 983 from DR of Congo, and 74 from Congo
Brazzaville, apart from Malian and Nigerian nationals. According to the chief of
the Custom Duties (SME), Pascoal Quimino, the voluntary action comes in the
ambit of the "Sossego" Operation, that the institution is carrying out in the
oil-rich Cabinda province since last April 14th, with a view to put an end to
the illegal staying of foreign citizens in this city. Mr Pedro Quimino
underlined also that the voluntary process of return of the citizens to their
respective countries is happening normally.

President 'orders halt to expulsions' of diggers (SouthScan, 19/05)
- Angola's President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has ordered a halt to the forced
expulsion of thousands of Congolese diamond diggers, according to press reports.
The announcement, after a meeting with the DRC's foreign minister in Washington,
came after Angolan troops had entered the Congo as part of their expulsion
drive. Tens of thousands of Congolese diamond diggers have been expelled from
Angola since the beginning of the year, leading to protests from the Congolese
side. On Tuesday (May 11), the interim governor of the Lower Congo province,
Emmanuel Ndombi Maboti, called a meeting with the vice-consul of Angola, Martins
Fernandes, and the migration police chief in the Angolan province of Zaire and
made an official protest against the recent "invasion" of a Congolese village by
the Angolan army. The incident came just one week after a meeting in Luanda
between Angolan and Congolese officials on security at the common border. The
meeting will be followed with another on May 20 between the governors of the
Congolese border provinces of Bandundu, Lower Congo and Western Kasai and their
colleagues from the Angolan provinces of Lunda Norte, Cafunfu and Zaire. This
came after the meeting on Wednesday (May 12) in Washington between Dos Santos
and the Congolese foreign minister, Antoine Ghonda, when, according to the
Congolese independent news agency APA, Dos Santos said he had ordered a halt to
the expulsions. The situation has been creating unease in Kinshasa, where 200
members from the 'Voice of the Voiceless' human rights group organised a sit-in
in front of the Angolan embassy on Tuesday to protest against the "massive and
brutal" expulsions of their compatriots and to ask for the dismissal of the
Angolan ambassador in the DRC for his allegedly "discourteous" words about the
DRC. Meanwhile, the governors of the Congolese Katanga province and of the
Angolan province of Moxico also met on Tuesday with their colleague from
Zambia's north-western province to sort out border problems. They were also
preparing for the reopening of the Angola-DRC border between the cities of
Dilolo (DRC) and Luao (Angola), and the reactivation of regional trade. Earlier
in Luanda, a joint Angola-Congolese commission examined ways and means of
promoting co-operation in the energy and transport sectors. Angola agreed to
send back to the DRC 49 railway wagons, and the DRC reportedly agreed to
reimburse what it owed to Angola. While Angola and the DRC are repairing the
situation on their borders, the tensions are more serious on the Rwandan side.
The Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, threatened in a radio broadcast on May 3 to
send back troops to the DRC if the Kinshasa government and the UN Mission in the
Congo (MONUC) failed to prevent the Rwandan Hutu extremists of the 'Democratic
Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda' (FDLR) attacking his country (SouthScan
v19/09). The Congolese minister of information, Vital Kamerhe, immediately
criticised the Rwandan president's statement but the Kigali authorities have
been unrepentant and called the recent arrest of a genocide suspect in the DRC
merely a "symbolic" gesture. Twelve of the 14 people wanted by the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for their alleged roles in masterminding the
systematic slaughter of between 800,000 and a million people are hiding in DRC,
ICTR prosecutor Hassan Bubacar Jallow said on Wednesday in Arusha, the northern
Tanzanian town where the court sits. It does seem, though, that there is
increasing willingness on the Kinshasa side to curb FDLR activities. On 8 May
the US embassy in Kinshasa congratulated the DRC government for the capture of a
Rwandan genocide suspect, Yusuf Munyakazi.A FDLR liaison officer called Etienne
Usubimurenye was arrested the same day in Bukavu, the capital of the DRC's
Southern Kivu province. According to the assistant secretary general of the
Congolese Rally for Democracy (CRD), Crispin Kabasele Tshimanga, the suspect was
carrying documents showing that the FDLR planned to launch an attack against the
Congolese army, then cross the Burundian border and eventually try to capture
several Rwandan villages. A second attack was to be launched from the Northern
Kivu area of Rutshuru against Rwanda. Four brigades of 6-800 men each were
supposed to execute the plans. Other evidence of Kinshasa's new attitude was the
fighting which took place in late April and early May between Congolese troops
and the FDLR rebels. At least 78 people died in several incidents. The
heightened unrest in the Kivus has caused concern in Washington, where last
Thursday a tripartite meeting between the foreign ministers of Rwanda, the DRC
and Uganda was supposed to take place. A week earlier, the UN Security Council
had voiced its concern at the escalation. Indeed, a third focus of tension is
the DRC-Uganda border. On 10 May a Ugandan army spokesman declared that a new
rebel group called the People's Redemption Army (PRA) led by a defector from the
Ugandan People's Defence Force, Colonel Edison Muzoora, was threatening to
attack the country from bases in the Ituri district of north eastern Congo.
Allegedly, these rebels are trying to combine forces with the Allied Democratic
Forces (ADF), another Ugandan rebel group which operates from DRC territory.
Uganda's pro-government paper New Vision reported on 10 May that the PRA rebels
were training in Boga, Kayinamura and Kamongo in the DRC, near the Ugandan
district of Bundibugyo. The problem is that the DRC government is still far from
controlling this area. There has been recent fighting between the UN
peacekeeping troops and a Lendu militia called the 'Front of Integrationist
Nationalists' (FNI) during which at least ten militiamen were killed. The former
enemies, the FNI, the Hema 'Union of Congolese Patriots' (UCP) and the Armed
Forces of the Congolese People formed in February a united front called the
'Front for the Pacification and the Integration into Congo' (FPIC) whose main
aim is to exert pressure on the UN and the Kinshasa government to obtain
government jobs for their leaders. But apparently, the UN troops have decided to
crush the rebels. According to local reports they used attack helicopters and
fired at least 80 rockets at the rebels in an incident last week. Meanwhile,
rebel leaders of the two wings of the UCP, led respectively by Thomas Lubanga
and and Floribert Kissembo and other Ituri militia leaders (FNI, PUSIC, FRPI and
FPDC) were trying during talks with the government in Kinshasa to boost their
chances in the transitional institutions.

Mines threat to refugee repatriation (Luau, Irin, 10/05)
- Angola's decades-long civil war is over, but the presence of landmines and
other unexploded ordnance (UXO) remain a major obstacle to recovery.The city of
Luau in the eastern province of Moxico, once a bustling centre with 90,000
inhabitants, has been isolated since the war destroyed roads and the railroad
along which goods flowed from the Angolan coast to the DRC. Its location on the
border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) made Luau strategically
important to the armed forces of both the former rebel movement, UNITA, and the
government. When Luau became a focal point for hostilities, people fled and left
much of the city deserted and in disrepair.In a few weeks' time about 9,000
refugees will return to Luau from the DRC, increasing the population by a third.
They will return to a place where land mines and UXOs are a daily threat. The
Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a demining NGO, considers Angola to be among the
countries worst affected by landmines in the world, and Luau is one of the
hardest hit locations."The town is surrounded by about 13 minefields. In the
bairro [township] where we are working now, we found one minefield in front of
another in a pattern that does not make sense. Mines were laid by [different]
parties moving in and running away," said Willi Kubirske, technical field
manager for MAG in Luau. "There was no time to make maps and, if there are any,
they are incorrect. It was like an ant nest – everybody was moving around. We
have even found one minefield laid on top of another." Kubirske is worried about
the possible impact of the minefields on the repatriation process. "There is
always a risk of accidents when new people are moving in. The returnees are
going to settle down in around 100 of the 340 bairros in Luau municipality.
Almost none of those have been cleared of mines - we simply do not know where
the mines are. We pick the fields out by chance and gamble - I hope that one day
a guy on a white horse will come around and tell us where the mines are. I hope
I'll be around when that happens," Kubirske said. Many returnees have settled in
uncleared areas like the township of Jica, where about 800 returnees were
allocated land by the local administration last year. Desperate families
accepted the plots they were given and started building homes.Goyi Chivinda
Muabila, 31, moved to Jica in July last year when he returned to Luau from the
DRC. A line of mines runs just in front of the house where he lives with his
wife and three small children. "We were afraid of mines, but where could we go?
I was shocked to see the area in such a bad state - but it was war, so I guess
it is natural. The only reward is that we receive food [from the World Food
Programme]. We have already constructed this house and we cannot go anywhere
else - to go to a place, construct a new house and not receive food [aid] would
be impossible," said Muabila. The demining process has been slow, because it has
to be thorough. A team of 16 deminers works seven hours a day, scanning the
ground with metal detectors, picking up every piece of metal they find. Since
July last year 112 anti-personnel mines, 4 anti-tank mines and more than 200
UXOs have been unearthed in Luau, with over 40 of the anti-personnel mines
uncovered in Jica. The families living there try to lead a normal life: children
play and adults walk in places yet to be cleared by MAG, often less than a metre
away from where the deminers are working. "We try to keep them out of the
minefield, but we cannot stop them from going to their own house," said Kubirske.
There have been remarkably few accidents, which no-one can explain - the mines
that have been taken out are all in good condition; some were buried deep, some
just under the surface. Many residents say it is an act of God that more people
have not been killed or injured. Muabila told IRIN his greatest worry has been
for his children. "We talk to them and say that they are not supposed to walk
where there is grass. We always leave an adult to look after them. [But] I am
afraid they might get hurt," he said.

140,000 refugees to return home (Luanda, Angop, 17/05)
- The Angolan authorities and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) are preparing the second phase of the returning programme to the
country, this year, of about 140,000 refugees located in various sheltering
centres in the neighboring DR Congo. Speaking to ANGOP today, here, the Angolan
ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mawete Joao Baptista, said that
the return will be done in phases and organised until late this year. According
to the Angolan diplomat, the refugees are living in five sheltering centres
located in the DR Congo, as well as along the common border between both
countries. Most of the refugees, who had run away from the armed conflict, are
living in precarious social conditions, and are under the auspices of the UNHCR.
On the first phase of the programme, implemented during last year, about 60,000
refugees have returned to the country, in an operation carried out by road. The
8th bilateral session of Angola/DR Congo, ongoing since Wednesday in Luanda,
will close today and issues of cooperation concerning the fields of economy,
science, technology, defence and security are being tackled.

Angolan refugees face harsh return home (Johannesburg, UNHCR, 06/05)
- Tens of thousands of Angolan refugees who will be returning home in the coming
weeks face dire conditions when they get there, the World Food Programme warned
on Thursday as it renewed its appeal for funds. Some 90 000 refugees who fled to
neighbouring countries during Angola's 27-year civil war are to end their life
in exile under a repatriation programme to be launched with the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees in mid-May. WFP will need a minimum of $136m to feed
Angolans who have returned or who will be repatriated from Zambia and Namibia
this year, said Michael Huggins, spokesperson for WFP for southern Africa. "In
places like Cazombo (eastern Angola), they are returning to a deserted town.
There is no electricity, no water, no schools. The roads are in a bad condition
and there are very few medical services," Huggins said. "It's going to be a
very, very difficult return," he said. WFP is planning to distribute food packs
to the refugees to help them survive as they begin to rebuild their lives.
Huggins cited donor fatigue as a reason for the shortfall in international aid,
adding that refugee return in Angola was not perceived by rich governments as "a
high-profile emergency." Angolan rebels and the government reached a peace
accord in April 2002 following the death of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi. Half a
million refugees who fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Congo,
Namibia, Botswana and South Africa began returning to their country in June
2003. But refugee returns were halted last year, when rains damaged the roads.
Angolan Social Welfare and Reintegration Minister Joao Baptista Kussumua said
last month that 220 000 refugees had returned home, either with UN assistance or
by their own means. During the second wave of UN-assisted refugee return, up to
10 000 refugees from Namibia are to return home beginning in mid-May and up to
40 000 from Zambia by mid-June, according to WFP.

Agreement on repatriation of Congolese immigrants (Johannesburg, Irin, 06/05)
- Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have agreed on the
conditions for repatriation of illegal Congolese migrants expelled by Angolan
security forces in the past few months, a senior official told IRIN on Thursday.
"Both parties reached an agreement last night, which is effective immediately,"
said the Angolan ambassador to South Africa, Isaac Maria dos Anjos. The Angolan
authorities expelled at least 67,000 illegal Congolese in a crackdown on diamond
traffickers that started in December. UN agencies estimated that 2,500 people a
day were arriving in the DRC, mostly in areas where there was no food, water or
shelter for them. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
reported last month that emergency aid for the Congolese was still needed as
soon as possible, although the humanitarian situation may now be stabilising in
at least one affected zone. According to OCHA, Angolan military agents had
reportedly sexually abused women and girls on the pretext of searching for
hidden diamonds. The illegal Congolese immigrants were expelled from the
provinces of Malanje, Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul and Kwanza Sul. The agreement was
reached following a meeting on Wednesday between the Angolan Foreign Minister,
Joao Bernardo Miranda, and the DRC's Minister of Home, Decentralisation and
Security, Theophile Mbemba Fundu. The meeting, the first under the tripartite
mechanism for political and security cooperation between Angola and the two
Congos, was also attended by the Republic of Congo's Foreign Minister, Rodolphe
Adada. "The Congolese understood the Angolan position that illegal Congolese
will have to go, and we also appreciated that the Congolese government also
needs time to make arrangements to accommodate the expelled citizens," Dos Anjos
explained. The Congolese authorities had proposed a 30-day prior warning of
repatriations, which was accepted, he said. Dos Anjos said Angola was also
holding talks about illegal immigrants with other governments in the region.
Illegal immigrants from other countries like Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone were
also targeted by the Angolan authorities.

Refugees face hunger at home (Johannesburg, Sapa, 06/05)
- Unless it gets more funding, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)
will not meet its aim to provide food to thousands of Angolan refugees returning
home this year, the organisation said on Thursday. "The food component of the
repatriation exercise is essential to ensure people prosper when they return,"
said James Morris, executive director of the WFP. "If they have nothing to eat
and face barren fields plus rebuilding their homes, then they're more likely to
give up and migrate to cities or return to exile." Mike Huggins, a WFP
spokesperson, said the aid organisation had planned to assist as many as 10 000
Angolans in Namibia, 40 000 in Zambia and 19 000 from the Democratic Republic of
Congo to return home this year. There they will join the 1.4-million people who
have already been repatriated. However, the WFP has received only $35-million of
an appeal for $253-million for its resettling operation in Angola. This means
the agency will not be able to sustain its current levels of assistance, let
alone supply a complete food package to the people returning home, said Huggins.
Huggins said the repatriation operation could not be delayed because seasonal
rains make June to November the only feasible time for people to return. The
Angolan government has asked that any genetically modified food aid be milled
before being distributed. Earlier this week the WFP said this request will also
cause delays in the provision of food aid to Angola. "Milling would have to be
done overseas and we would have to find someone to pay for it," Huggins said.
There are an estimated 166 000 Angolans in neighbouring countries, some of whom
have been living in refugee camps for decades.

Angola, Congo look to control repatriation (Luanda, Sapa-AP, 05/05)
- Angola and Congo have reached an agreement on the repatriation of illegal
Congolese immigrants in Angolan territory, officials said, amid reports of
executions, rapes and forced separations of Congolese families expelled by
Angolan security forces in recent months. Angolan Foreign Minister Joao Bernardo
Miranda held talks Tuesday with Congo's minister for the police Theophile Mbemba
Fundu. Republic of Congo Foreign Minister Rodolphe Adada also attended the
meeting which ended after midnight. "The ministers agreed on the need for close
management of the situation and adopted the principle of prior warning before
each repatriation as well as diplomatic protection," the ministers said in a
communique. Congo's minister proposed a 30-day prior warning of repatriations,
the communique said, without explaining whether Angola accepted the proposal.
None of the ministers spoke to the press after the meeting. The Angolan
government is expelling Congolese who have been working illegally in diamond
mines, along with their families, in northern Angola on the border with Congo.
U.N. agencies estimated last month that 2,500 people a day were arriving in
Congo with no food, shelter or water. Families expelled have claimed they were
subjected to invasive body searches to ensure that they hadn't taken any
diamonds with them. The United Nations says this has led to some deaths. There
also have been drownings among people crossing the dangerous Tungila river that
separates Angola from Congo. Aid workers also had reports, confirmed by several
sources, of people being shot dead. The United Nations has also expressed
concerned for the safety of Angolan refugees in Congo, who have been subject to
reprisals by returning diamond workers. The U.N. World Food Program has sent
urgent aid to tens of thousands of Congolese who have been expelled from Angola.

Botswana
Zimbabwe journalist flogged for public drinking (The Herald Online,
29/05) - A Zimbabwean journalist who is based in
Botswana's north western resort town of Maun recently became a victim of the
neighbouring country's widely condemned disciplinary code of public floggings
when he was given four strokes of the sjambok for allegedly drinking beer in
public. According to a fellow Zimbabwean journalist in Botswana, the journalist
was arrested by police in that country while in the company of another
Zimbabwean scribe who was visiting that country after they were allegedly caught
drinking beer in public. In actions reminiscent of the treatment of fellow
Zimbabweans caught on the wrong side of the law in that country, the journalist,
who holds a senior position at a Maun-based weekly publication, was taken to a
customary court (also known as Kgotla in Setswana) in the town where he was
sentenced to four lashings in public. The lashings are usually done by the chief
who presides over cases with the assistance of active men who hold the accused
down during the punishment. In defence of the public floggings, the Botswana
government says the disciplinary code is entrenched in its constitution and is
not designed to humiliate Zimbabweans who have to contend with a xenophobic
local population. "When the journalists were caught drinking beer in public,
they were taken to the Kgotla and one of them was found guilty. He was
immediately given four lashes in public before he was released. It was deeply
embarrassing for the journalist and he does not want it to be known in public,"
said the fellow scribe who asked to remain anonymous. "We, however feel that it
is our duty to expose such unfair practices because the Botswana government is
asking too much from us, in view of the fact that we are not subjected to the
same treatment at home and that the lashings are in violation of international
conventions on prisoners." The scribe said public drinking should have, in the
worst scenario, attracted a spot fine. "Public drinking in my view, does not
warrant such severe lashings. It is surprising that these people can drink to an
extent that public drinking appears normal in this country and to hear that a
Zimbabwean has been lashed for doing the same thing comes as a total surprise
and smacks of double standards," the scribe said. In the past 12 months, the
Zimbabwean Government has raised concern with its Botswana counterparts over the
ill-treatment of locals visiting or working in the neighbouring country, with
emphasis on its opposition to the floggings in customary courts. The Minister of
State for Information and Publicity Professor Jonathan Moyo in March met
Botswana's Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Mothusi Nkogwe and expressed concern on the
increasing cases of ill-treatment of Zimbabweans. Mr Mothusi pledged to take up
the issue with the authorities in that country, but a statement from Botswana's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation declared that the
country had the right to administer the public floggings. Hundreds of
Zimbabweans have been flogged in public after being tried and convicted by
Botswana tribal chiefs, most of whom have expressed a bitter hatred of
Zimbabweans as they accuse them of perpetrating all imaginable ills.

Zimbabwe cross-border relations with Botswana (Bulawayo, Mmegi, 14/05)
- A packed minibus stops at the Plumtree border about 100 km southwest of
Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo, where the commuters alight and head
for the immigration post. A few stride confidently towards the building for a
quick passage to the buses that will take them across the Zimbabwe-Botswana
border, while the rest amble forward nervously, anticipating hassles by the
Botswana immigration officers. “Travelling on weekends is less of an ordeal,
when immigration officials are exhausted and less alert,” said 28-year-old
Pamela Tshuma, a regular traveller who works as a hairstylist and informal
trader in Gaborone. Pamela plaits hair at P30 (US$5) a head in the suburbs of
Gaborone. “If one works hard and is lucky to get customers, it is possible to
make P3,000 a month (US $605), which translates into a lot of money back home,”
she explains Zimbabweans have been making shopping trips to Botswana for almost
three decades, but the steadily deteriorating economic conditions in their
country have caused thousands, both skilled and unskilled, to trek to Botswana’s
cities, towns and mines in search of jobs. Many enter the country illegally
along secret paths in the dead of night. Although scores of them are deported
every week, the desperate Zimbabweans still find it worthwhile to sneak back
into the country in search of opportunities and a better life. Recent media
reports on the alleged ill-treatment of Zimbabweans by Batswana nationals have
soured relations between the two countries. In turn, the Zimbabwean authorities
have accused Botswana of hosting a Voice of America radio transmitter that
broadcasts “hostile propaganda aimed at regime change by the Americans”, beamed
at Zimbabwe by exiles. Botswana has denied any wrongdoing. On presenting his
credentials to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe recently, Botswana’s new envoy
to Zimbabwe explained that the radio transmitter had been in operation for the
past 25 years, and scoffed at the alleged ill treatment of Zimbawean nationals.
“It is a traditional custom in Botswana for traditional chiefs to flog petty
criminals. We don’t put people in prison for petty crimes.” Bostwana’s
presidential spokesman, Jeff Ramsay, accused sections of Zimbabwe’s media of
“fuelling misguided xenophobia”, saying: “Botswana has noted with growing
concern openly hostile reports against the government and the people of
Botswana, which can only be interpreted as a deliberate and systematic attempt
to fuel hatred and xenophobia between our people.” Tsokolo Matibeli, a
Zimbabwean electrical engineer working in Botswana told IRIN: “It is those
people who have no residence permits, those that overstay and the illegal
immigrants who face problems with the authorities - like in any other country.”
Tshuma commented: “Naturally, people view foreigners with disdain - that cannot
be taken as xenophobia.” But Zimbabwean traders and job seekers in Botswana are
afraid the recent stand-off between the two countries could jeopardise what has
become a lifeline for their families. “I hope accusations do not develop into
retaliatory actions. Botswana is the only country in SADC [Southern African
Development Community] that does not require entry visas, unlike South Africa,
Mozambique and Namibia,” observed Nkululi Langa, a Zimbabwean motor spare parts
dealer who frequently visits Botswana.

Influx of illegal immigrants threatens security, says MP (Mogoditshane,
DailyNews, 14/05) - MP for Mogoditshane, George
Kgoroba has warned that the influx of illegal immigrants was threatening the
security and economy of the country. He said during a kgotla meeting that police
officers were not coping with the crime rate. Kgoroba was concerned that the
good road network that exists in Botswana, has become a death trap. Motorists,
he said drive at high speeds and without due care resulting in accidents that
cause a number of deaths and injuries. On other issues he urged residents to
attend kgotla meetings and play a role in the development of their village.
Kgoroba criticised people who only attended meetings when they have a vested
interested in issues to be discussed especially those dealing with plot
allocation. Such people he said are only interested in acquiring land and are
not concerned about the development of the village. The MP also said financial
constraints have resulted in the cancellation of some projects. He said
Botswana's education system was rated among the best in Africa. He assured
residents that a primary school being constructed at Tsolamosese was near
completion. Tsolamosese children currently attend school as far as Gabane. A
senior secondary school he said will also be constructed in Mogoditshane during
the course of NDP 9. Residents observed that though Mogoditshane was highly
populated, most residents did not originate from the area and that is why they
did not attend kgotla meetings. They said that Kgosi Kgari III Sechele must
intervene in the matter. Residents also suggested that illegal immigrants be
subjected to corporal punishment as a deterrent and complained about internal
roads that are not maintained.

Xenophobic behaviour must stop (Mmegi/The Reporter, 04/05)
- The tendency for Botswana and Zimbabwean citizens to turn to violence against
each other at the drop of a hat is now becoming commonplace. This is a clear
sign that xenophobic behaviour against Zimbabweans nationals in this country is
certainly on the rise. This should be discouraged and strong, decisive action
should be taken against any Botswana or Zimbabwean who engage in this
reprehensible conduct. The two countries and people will always live side by
side due to the force of geography, history and the inter-relatedness as a
result of marriage and blood relationships, which go back many years. So for all
we know, blood relatives would soon kill each other during this highly explosive
xenophobic encounters of the bloody kind witnessed at the Gaborone Bus Rank.
Last year, three people (one Motswana and two Zimbabweans), were killed and
several others injured after rioting at the Francistown Central Prison over
food. When we went to press yesterday, the riot police had to be called in to
defuse a riot in which at least five Zimbabwean commuter buses had their windows
and windshields stoned at the Gaborone Bus Rank. This followed a scuffle that
erupted after a suspected Zimbabwean citizen tried to evade arrest for
disorderly conduct - drinking beer in public from a beer can. When policemen who
were on patrol tried to arrest him, he ran towards his compatriots at the main
long-distance bus rank in Gaborone. This soon turned into a racist pandemonium
after the Zimbabweans tried to shield their compatriot from the police, thus
infuriating the many Botswana at the station, who started stoning
Zimbabwean-bound long-distance commuter buses. If any such nasty events should
occur in future, we urge the riot police and other law enforcement personnel to
take speedy and decisive action to prevent mayhem and serious damage to property
that we witnessed yesterday.

Forced repatriation leaves thousands destitute (Relief Web, 14/05)
- Although the Angolan President has suspended the expulsion of Congolese living
in Angola, tens of thousands of those recently expelled remain under threat in
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) because the DRC authorities have failed
to make necessary provision for their protection. The UN estimates that up to
100,000 Congolese have been expelled from Angola to the Bandundu and Kasai
Occidental provinces of the DRC over the last few weeks. Most have arrived
exhausted and in many cases entirely stripped of their possessions and clothes.
Some were in an extremely poor medical state due to diseases, dehydration,
hunger and having spent many nights without shelters. Many others have also
reportedly been subjected to serious human rights violations on both sides of
the border. Congolese NGOs and international humanitarian organizations are
trying to respond to the needs of those people arriving in their areas by
providing them with shelter, food, health and hygiene supplies. However, their
resources are limited and they are not receiving adequate support from the DRC
government or local authorities. The manager of a Congolese NGO working in Kasai
Occidental, told Amnesty International:" In the course of their expulsion, some
had to walk for 14 days to arrive in Tshikapa. We are trying to help as they
have no food and no clothes, and have nowhere to go. "Those expelled to the DRC
told international and local NGOs that Angolan security forces subjected them to
appalling human rights violations before expulsion. People were reportedly held
in transit camps for up to a week, where the Angolan security forces stole
anything valuable. While searching for hidden diamonds or money, the security
forces, after separating families, reportedly conducted public and unhygienic
internal body searches, including vaginal and rectum searches, on adults and
children. Those who resisted searches were reportedly severely beaten. Many
women and girls, under the pretext of being searched, were reportedly raped and
sometimes gang-raped even when pregnant. A number of refugees were also
reportedly drowned as they attempted to cross rivers in their journey to DRC.
Information received by Amnesty International also suggests that some refugees
have been detained by DRC security forces and accused of being infiltrators ("infiltrés")
with a view to extorting money and diamonds from them. If the detainees pay they
are allowed to go free, if not they may be subjected to beatings or other
abuses, including sexual violence. Amnesty International urges both the DRC and
Angolan governments to ensure that such abuses are brought to an immediate end,
and that the reports are investigated and the alleged perpetrators brought to
justice. Amnesty International is also calling on the DRC government to address
the humanitarian needs of those expelled. "The DRC authorities have so far made
very little practical effort to assist these people, either at the governmental
or the local level. The government must urgently establish and implement a
strategy to assist the returnees, facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid,
and promote the integration of returnees into local communities," the
organization said. "Local authorities should give every assistance to NGOs
working in their zones, and work to ensure good relations between the returnees
and communities."
Background - Since December 2003
Angolan authorities have been expelling thousands of Congolese they accuse of
illegally mining diamonds in the country. Foreigners of 15 different
nationalities, including from Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone are
among those expelled. Most of them saw their houses destroyed by the Angolan
security forces before being forced to flee. The expulsions that took place in
April, from the Malange, Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul and Kwanza Sul provinces of
Angola, have been the third and largest wave of forced repatriation. Many of the
people expelled from Angola were born there, and have no place to which they can
return. The returnees were suspected by Angolan and DRC security forces of
having hidden money or packets of diamonds on their persons, including by
swallowing.

Mozambique
Mozambique and Zimbabwe abolish diplomatic visas (Maputo, AIM, 21/05)
- Mozambique and Zimbabwe have agreed to abolish definitively visas between the
two countries for holders of diplomatic passports. People living in the border
areas will also be allowed to cross from one country into the other without visa
formalities. According to a report in Friday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias",
a document to that effect was signed in the northern Mozambican city of Pemba,
between Miguel dos Santos, and Augustine Xihure, the general police commanders
of Mozambique and Zimbabwe respectively, on Thursday. Mozambican Interior
Ministry spokesperson Nataniel Macamo said that the two parties also agreed to
put an end to the tension along the common border, where shooting by Zimbabwean
troops has been often reported, resulting in the death of some Mozambican
citizens. "Because the two countries concluded that there are good cooperation
relations, it was decided to encourage and strengthen the exchange of
experiences, and to work to sort out any differences. Thus, measures will be
taken in both countries giving clear instructions to punish any misbehaviour",
he said. The disturbances, occurring particularly in the area of Kuchamano, on
the border between Zimbabwe and the western Mozambican province of Tete, are
started by the Zimbabweans. The border in that area, on the Zimbabwean side, is
garrisoned by a military unit, while Mozambique entrusted border security to the
police. Macamo explained that land conflicts between the population on both
sides arise because of the lack of fencing along parts of the 4,212 kilometre
long border, in both Tete and Manica provinces. Zimbabweans, coveting the
fertile land on the Mozambican side, sometimes farm illegally within Mozambican
territory. Macamo said that the best way to solve such situations is not to
resort to violence, but to seek ways of living together peacefully. Macamo said
that the police in both countries have submitted a formal request for the
relevant authorities to demarcate the border. For his part, dos Santos said that
to facilitate circulation of people and goods between the two countries, it was
decided to provide better equipment to the simplified border posts, particularly
to cater for the people living near the border, and also to strengthen joint
patrols, in order to neutralise any cross border contraband.

Zimbabwean company relocates to Mozambique and Zambia (Maputo, AIM, 18/05)
- The owners of a major Zimbabwean horticultural company are to shift their
business into Mozambique and Zambia, following the illicit occupation of their
224 hectare farm under Zimbabwe's chaotic land reform. According to a report in
the South African daily "Business Day", the Kondozi farm, in the eastern
Zimbabwean province of Manicaland, used to supply horticultural produce to South
African and European markets, and had a turnover of 15 million US dollars a
year. The farm has had problems with illegal occupations since 25 December, when
a group of government supporters, allegedly led by Agriculture Minister Joseph
Made, invaded the Kondozi property. The situation became much worse on 9 April
when an armed gang, supposedly including members of the police and army, invaded
the farm, and threw out its workforce. This affects about 5,000 farm workers and
their families who lose their homes. The Zimbabwean government's version of
events is that Kondozi was occupied by the state-owned Agricultural and Rural
Development Authority, but the Kondozi owners believe that top politicians
incited what they regard as an illegal raid. The end result is that a thriving
company is about to leave Zimbabwe and take its money and know-how to Mozambique
and Zambia. The majority shareholder in the Kondozi company, Edwin Moyo, said
last week that the Mozambican authorities are prepared to make 800 hectares of
land available in the central province of Manica (where several other Zimbabwean
investors are already operating). Moyo says that his company has purchased a
further 2,000 hectares in Gwembe Valley, in Zambia. He says his project "is
equipped with state-of-the-art irrigation equipment". Moyo added that his
company has secured loans from the South African Industrial Development
Corporation (IDC), Barclays Bank International, and the Dutch and British
companies, Psom and Tescos. (Tescos is a major British supermarket chain,
doubtless interested in purchasing high quality horticultural produce from
southern Africa.) Edwin Moyo has given up hopes of recovering the Zimbabwean
farm. "We will not waste any more time on Kondozi in Manicaland", he told the
South African paper. "I have been rendered a second- class citizen in my country
of origin so we will take our business elsewhere". An immediate effect of this
decision is a halt to construction of a pack house in the eastern Zimbabwean
city of Mutare, that would have stored produce before its shipment to export
markets. Now that investment, and the jobs that go with it, will be relocated to
Mozambique.

Namibia
Angolan refugees begin journey home from Namibia (Windhoek, Sapa-AFP, 18/05) -
Some 200 Angolan refugees began the journey home on Tuesday from Namibia, the
first of some 10,000 displaced who are to return in the coming months, UN
officials said. The Angolans will cross the border on Thursday to return home to
the southern province of Cunene, UNHCR official Esegiel Xamseb told AFP by phone
from the Osire refugee camp, north of Windhoek. Some 90,000 refugees from
countries neighboring Angola are to return home in May and June as part of a
second wave of repatriations organised by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
and Angolan authorities. Refugee returns were halted last year, when rains
damaged the roads in Angola. "The convoy left by mid-morning and will reach the
Namibian border post at Oshikango, where they will overnight and complete
immigrations and customs formalities on Wednesday", Xamseb said. "They will
enter Angola on Thursday via the Santa Clara border post opposite Oshikango to
go back home to the Cunene Province", he said. Xamseb said that 200 Angolans on
average will leave the Osire camp every week to go back home with a view to
ensuring the return of 10,000 refugees this year, double the number that went
back last year. Half a million Angolans fled their country during its
devastating 27-year civil war that ended with a peace pact in 2002. The World
Food Programme warned earlier this month that the returning refugees were facing
dire conditions in war-torn Angola. "In places like Cazombo (eastern Angola),
they are returning to a deserted town. There is no electricity, no water, no
schools. The roads are in a bad condition and there are very few medical
services," said WFP spokesman Mike Huggins. "It's going to be a very, very
difficult return," he told AFP. Angolan rebels and the government reached a
peace accord in April 2002 following the death of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi.
During the second wave of UN-assisted refugee return, up to 10,000 refugees from
Namibia are to return home beginning in mid-May and up to 40,000 from Zambia by
mid-June, according to WFP.

Seychelles ratifies smuggling and trafficking protocols (Seychelles Nation,
22/05) - The National Assembly has unanimously
approved the ratification of two United Nations protocols against the smuggling
of migrants and trafficking in persons, especially women and children. Both
motions were presented by the Leader of Government Business Honourable Patrick
Herminie on Tuesday May 15, during the Assembly’s first sitting of the second
term for the year. When presenting the motion to ratify the Protocol Against the
Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, Hon. Herminie said the illegal
smuggling of people into another country was considered as an organised crime.
Citing several past incidents, Hon. Herminie pointed out that in most cases this
“lucrative business”, which strives on the misery of others, brings huge profits
for the smugglers but very often ends with the death of the migrants involved.
In their attempts to escape from poverty or persecution in their own country,
some people are willing to pay up to US$5,000 to enter into another country
illegally, the Assembly was told. The migrants who manage to make it across the
border, Hon. Herminie said, normally ended up working in deplorable conditions
earning minimal salaries, having no legal rights and being abused both
physically and mentally by their employers. According to statistics there are an
estimated 200 million illegal migrants in countries worldwide. By ratifying the
protocol, Hon. Herminie said, member countries would have to initiate and
enforce relevant legislation against the smuggling of migrants. The protocol, he
said, also made provision for training for immigration officers on how to detect
illegal migrants and false documents as well as to gather intelligence about
criminals involved in this activity. The Assembly also ratified the Protocol to
Prevent, Punish and Suppress Trafficking in Persons, especially women and
children. Hon. Herminie said by ratifying this protocol Seychelles would be
helping to deter this inhuman activity where women and children from a country
are recruited, abducted or conned, transported into another country and sold to
the highest bidder. He said that these people, especially women, normally come
from very poor countries and are easily deceived by the prospects of a better
life. They usually end up in forced labour or marriage to older men, in
organised prostitution and in several cases are intimidated into giving away
their organs. Legislation to be implemented, he said, would also make provision
for the protection of the victims, as well as humanitarian aid. Other members
who spoke included Honourable Ivy Edmond, Regina Alcindor, Rukaiya Jumaye and
Alain St Ange.South Africa
Drug unit sweeps Hillbrow (IOL, 29/05)
- "It's the police, open the door!" bellowed a burly plain clothes operative
from the SAPS Johannesburg Organised Crime unit. Outside, the temperature had
dropped and a cold wind seeped through the bullet-proof vests that some wore. It
was 3am in Hillbrow and several members of the unit, as well as police officers
in uniform, were targeting three apartment blocks. For them, it was just another
drug-bust operation, an attempt to stem the tide of drugs flowing into the
country. These operations also focus on vehicle-related crimes and problems with
illegal immigrants. In one building, somewhat cleaner than most of the buildings
they raid, a few of the plain clothes operatives stood outside the door of a
flat. After several poundings at the door and with still no response, the plain
clothes operative prepared to break it down. Twice he slammed his shoulder at
the door and on the third attempt, it opened with a cracking sound. Four
bleary-eyed men could barely focus as the cops entered the flat. They received a
severe dressing-down for not answering earlier. The search began. Mattresses
were checked, cupboards opened, a potato bag inspected, plastic bags rifled
through, and documents read. While questions were flung at the occupants of the
room, cockroaches scurried about on the floors. Captain Gielie Coetzee, from the
Johannesburg Organised Crime unit, said depending on the intelligence
information received, these operations would continue regularly. Waking up in
the early hours of the morning didn't faze him, he said. It was part of the job.
"At the end of the day, the success of the operation makes you feel good and
makes you feel as if you have achieved something. "Even though Friday's success
was minimal - 14 illegal immigrants were apprehended and a stolen vehicle
recovered - it was the impact that counted. "People saw the police presence in
the building and most will think twice about doing it again. "Friday's
operation, said Coetzee, involved the SAPS, Johannesburg Organised Crime unit,
area crime combat unit, metro police, immigration officials from Home Affairs,
and representatives from City Power. Inspector Dennis Adriao, Gauteng SAPS
spokesperson, said having the two latter parties involved helped speed up the
process, and cut down on many hours of paperwork. "It is an efficient way of
dealing with the problems. City Power deals with illegal electricity and their
representatives check to see whether there has been a breach of power supplies."
Coetzee said that when illegal immigrants were apprehended, the immigration
officials were nearby to take over. Over and above fighting crime, Adriao said
the social aspects that had broken down were being addressed so that the city
didn't degenerate. He said it was also because of these operations that drug
syndicates were moving into more affluent areas of the city and into the
suburbs. "We have had good success in the suburbs, but people themselves have to
be vigilant and inform the police if they notice any suspicious behaviour," he
said.

Immigrant law set to change, says minister (Cape Town, Business Day,
29/05) - The Immigration Act is finally due for
changes, with newly appointed Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula
warning yesterday that some amendments may be "contentious". Although
Mapisa-Nqakula refused to say which sections of the act would change, it is
believed they will relate to safety and security and the access to records by
police and security agencies, particularly the creation of a database recording
entries and departures from SA. The minister said the decision to amend the
legislation was in line with a recommendation by state legal adviser Enver
Daniels, who conducted a review of the controversial regulations after they were
thrown out following a high court action involving former home affairs minister
Mangosuthu Buthelezi. She said there were two processes in place to ensure the
regulations were finalised within the three month deadline set by President
Thabo Mbeki in his state of the nation address. A ministerial task team that was
reviewing the regulations would present the amendments to the cabinet on June
23, she said. The changes would be brought to Parliament the following day, and
the parliamentary process would then "take its course". This would include a
public participation process during the July parliamentary recess to comment on
the amendments. Mapisa-Nqakula said she was "optimistic" the regulations would
be ready by the end of August. She refused to give details of the amendments or
how substantial they would be, but said that they could be controversial. "I
don't want to say what the amendments are. You will recall that some of the
ministers and their departments were raising problems and opinions about
regulations." At the point when the amendments are put to Parliament that's when
you will know what amendments are," she said. During the April court
proceedings, Buthelezi released cabinet documents that referred to the areas of
contention. These included the maintenance of an electronic databank to record
the entry and exit of citizens. Buthelezi had argued that the Immigration
Advisory Board and public comments had suggested that the amendments be
considered only once Professional valuers in there was a legislative and policy
framework in place to deal with the "thorny real estate and issue of utilisation
of and access to databanks". Other areas of contention related to the foreign
affairs department's plan to waive visa requirements for visitors to SA who were
citizens of Algeria, Angola, China, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the
Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Russia, Senegal, Tanzania,
Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. There were also questions about
the appointment of the chairman of the board and whether his status overrode the
accountability of the home affairs director-general. The state legal adviser
also called for the regulations to be checked for constitutionality and
consistency. Mapisa-Nqakula said the home affairs department was running "as
normal" and was healthy, but conceded that it "does have its problems like any
other department".She said the department needed to fill 500 posts this year and
there were still vacancies. The department recently advertised posts for 19
senior managers and two deputy director-generals. "The only difference in the
department is that there has been a change of leadership, which did not change
the state of affairs in the department," she said. "Staff in the department are
as loyal to the new leadership as they were to the leadership before and are
ready to deliver the services expected of them."

SA Joins global drive to repatriate Angolan refugees (Business Day, 28/05)
- At least 4000 Angolans based in SA are willing to return home to help rebuild
their war-ravaged country. Deputy Political Editor Thousand of Angolan refugees
in SA willing to return to rebuild their war-ravaged and landmine-infested
country will be going home soon, with assistance from the South African
government. Since the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
declared the country politically stable and safe for refugees to return, about
4000 out of 13626 registered Angolan refugees in SA have expressed the wish to
go home. It has been two years since the violent death of Angolan rebel leader
Jonas Savimbi shot and killed in military action at the age of 67 in February
2002. A peace accord was signed between the Angolan government and rebels of
Savimbi's Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) in April 2002.
Since then, the Angolan government has recorded the return of close to 218000
Angolan refugees, according to UNHCR. This includes about 45000 who returned in
organised convoys after UNHCR started a repatriation programme last June. A
further 30000 Angolans voluntarily returned home following Savimbi's death. They
have received reintegration assistance from the UN refugee agency. SA is
responding to UNHCR's call a year after it started the process of helping
Angolan refugees return home from African countries. Foreign Minister Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma signed a co-operation agreement with Angola earlier this year that
has made it possible for UNHCR to start preparing for the repatriation of
refugees in SA. Dlamini-Zuma' s spokesman, Ronnie Mamoepa, says that the
department is working closely with the UN and the Angolan government . UNHCR
spokeswoman in SA Melita Sunjic says SA, Angola and the commission are
finalising operational plans involving documentation and transport logistics.
"The programme will be advertised and the first convoy is expected to leave SA
for Angola in August this year," she says. Sunjic says the process may take 18
months to complete as more refugees may decide later to take advantage of the
programme. She says the commission is assisting with community-based projects in
Angola such as the construction of wells, schools, health centres and roads to
help the returnees and their communities with resettling. UNHCR and the South
African government are discussing whether it will be possible to pay for air
tickets for returning refugees. But those choosing to fly home will be allowed
to take only 20kg of luggage. The commission encourages refugees to sell
commodities in their host country and to buy new furniture and other goods when
they get to their home countries. "Otherwise they will have to arrange and pay
for the alternative transportation of their valuables," Sunjic says. She says
once discussions between SA and Angola are completed, there will be an exchange
of refugees' identification data. Angolan officials will set up desks at points
of entry to welcome their citizens and assist them with registration and new
identity documents. Single parents, particularly women, will receive special
attention when returning home, to ensure that they can provide for their
families. UNHCR will also ensure that all refugee children are immunised before
they leave SA. In the first organised return convoy this year, UNHCR assisted
200 Angolan refugees to return from Namibia. They left Namibia's Osire refugee
camp last week and arrived in Cunene province, southeastern Angola, later the
same day. Sunjic says they will spend a few days at a reception centre in Cunene,
where they will receive accommodation, food and medical assistance as well as
training sessions on landmine awareness and HIV/AIDS prevention before heading
to their home areas. She says UNHCR plans to conduct weekly return convoys from
Osire camp, which is host to 12000 Angolan refugees who fled their country
during the 27-year civil war. The commission's plans are at an advanced stage to
help refugees in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo return to their
homes. " UNHCR plans to help 145000 Angolan returnees in 2004 alone," Sunjic
says. Of these, about 90000 Angolan refugees will come from Namibia, Zambia and
Congo. Convoys from Zambia and Congo would resume in June, once the rains had
passed and roads had improved . Botswana, which is host to 2000 Angolan
refugees, expects to begin their repatriation in July, Sunjic says.

Suburban xenophobia (The Financial Mail, 28/05) -
Michelle Swart looks at what industry experts have to say about the effect of
foreigners buying property in SA - ARE foreigners to blame for the surge in
property prices and are South Africans becoming increasingly xenophobic as prime
properties become less affordable? Andrew Golding, CEO of Pam Golding Properties
says: "While is true that South African property prices have dramatically
increased over the last few years it is mainly due to demand outstripping
supply. This has been driven by low interest rates, positive economic sentiment
and the fact that property is one of the few investments that performed well
while the stock market fell over the past three years. When you consider that
only 10% of properties in the total Pam Golding inventory over the last 12
months have been sold to foreigners, and less than 1% in SA it becomes apparent
that foreign investment in property represents only a tiny fraction of the
property stock." With breathtaking scenery, great weather and a high quality of
life at a fraction of the cost of places such as England, France and Spain, it
is easy to understand why SA is attracting foreign investors. But the
infiltration of foreign buyers is affecting the lives of some South Africans who
are bitter about increased prices. Gail from Noordhoek (who wished to remain
anonymous) says: "Locals are becoming resentful of foreigners who are snapping
up prime properties at inflated prices. They are the cause of properties
becoming unaffordable for locals." Tony Vaughan, MD of soon to be launched The
Property Magazine disagrees. "They are bringing hard currency into the country
which is imperative in a developing economy. South Africans are possessive over
their' land and need to adapt their attitude to welcome foreign buyers, as they
are a minor factor contributing to escalating prices. Locals should rather see
it as a massive vote of confidence and be proud." Catherine Simon from New York,
who recently purchased a sea-facing apartment in Camps Bay experiences this
xenophobia on a daily basis with comments from locals like, "You don't belong
here and you are not investing in your community". "This is absurd," says
Catherine. "I contribute to taxes like any local and I'm on more environmental
committees and community programmes than any one else I know. Not only am I
creating employment, but I haven't even begun to add up how much foreign income
my endless stream of American visitors spend in the country." Golding concludes
that SA needs foreign currency, and most foreigners are economically active,
contributing to job creation and a vibrant economy. Courtesy of The Property
Magazine

Police nab 11 Home Affairs officials (Pretoria, SABC News, 27/05)
- At least 11 home affairs officials from Bloemfontein were arrested this
morning following investigations into the issuing of fraudulent documents. A
two-year joint investigation with the department and the police's organised
crime unit found that foreigners, especially from Lesotho, were issued with
illegal documents allowing them to become South African citizens. The officials
were allegedly paid large amounts of money for illegal birth certificates. With
these, people could apply for identity documents, South African passports and
social grants. Up to R1 000 was reportedly paid for fraudulently obtaining ID's.
It is believed each corrupt official made about R30 000 a month. Earlier eight
employees were also arrested. Liziwe Ntshinga, a police spokesperson, says
although the operation was in Bloemfontein today, it is to be extended to other
areas of the Free State. The suspects will appear in court on Monday.

Passport racket targeted (Daily News, 27/05) -
Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula yesterday promised to smash a
false passport racket, after reports that people with Al-Qaeda links were in
possession of South African documents. Although she was personally not aware of
the link with Al-Qaeda, her department was in the process of devising means to
eliminate the ease with which people fraudulently acquired South African
passports and identity documents. She was replying to questions from journalists
in Cape Town following reported comments by national police commissioner Jackie
Selebi in parliament that several people who had evil intentions were arrested
in South Africa five days before the recent elections. He intimated they had
links to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network which had sparked arrests in Syria,
Jordan and Britain. Mapisa-Nqakula said: "We are aware of the potential dangers
the problems (of fraudulently available IDs and passports) could cause. "I am
personally not aware of the links with Al-Qaeda, but if the national
commissioner says so, I have no reason not to believe him. What we are doing on
our part is to make sure that South African IDs and passports are not accessible
to criminals any more. We will do all we can to ensure that this problem is
completely eliminated." She hinted that there was a need for more intelligence
work in the elimination of the scourge, saying that from what had been reported
it appeared that those caught were "simply nabbed in the normal course of
policing at airports and so on". The use of intelligence should ensure that
these people were not arrested when they were in the course of committing crime
- but ahead of the commission of the act, she said. The Democratic Alliance
plans to table parliamentary questions to get more information about the arrests
of suspected terrorists mere days before last month's elections. DA spokesman
Roy Jankielsohn said today that the United Nations had identified Al-Qaeda as a
terrorist organisation and that as a member of the UN South Africa has a duty to
fight terrorism and assist other law enforcement agencies in apprehending terror
suspects. "We will put in one or two parliamentary questions to get details of
who was arrested and where and to ensure there is transparency and
accountability," Jankielsohn said.

Amendments to be made to immigration regulations (Sapa, 27/05)
- State law advisers have recommended several amendments be made to the
regulations for the Immigration act, Public Service and Administration Minister
Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Tuesday. The amendments would be presented to
cabinet on June 23 and tabled in Parliament on June 24, whereafter the public
would then be allowed to make submissions on the act, she told a media briefing
at Parliament. Fraser-Moleketi declined to reveal exactly what amendments would
be made, or the implications of these changes. "There are issues for instance
dealing with the immigration board. We will only tell you when they are
published some of these issues are contentious, She said the regulations for the
Immigration Act would be finalised by the end of August. Cabinet had established
a committee in February, comprising the departments of home affairs, safety and
security, foreign affairs, trade and industry, education and justice and
constitutional development, to finalised the regulations. "The committee has
agreed to finalise the process by the end of August 2004, in line with
president's directive," she told journalists. The regulations led to a court
battle between Thabo Mbeki and former Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi
earlier this year. The court action started when Buthelezi hastily promulgated
the regulations while they were still under discussion by the Cabinet. The Cape
High Court ruled that an order, made in March this year that the regulations be
published, be set aside.

Refugee influx brings Africa to Cape Town (Cape Town, Reuters, 26/05)
- It has often been said that Cape Town is not really an African city -- more a
European seaside resort than part of a continent mired in conflict and poverty.
But a new generation of arrivals is bringing a distinctly African flavor to
South Africa's oldest city as refugees and economic migrants from across the
continent trek to Cape Town to seek security and fortune. While Cape Town still
boasts vacation villas, world-class restaurants and hotels that rival the best
in Europe, 10 years after the end of white apartheid rule much of the city is
transforming. As in other parts of Africa, nearly every available public space
is crammed with markets and stalls as Cape Town's new residents seek to make
their fortunes. Official figures show the number of refugees coming to Cape Town
has quadrupled over the past three years. Chantal Mujingwa says she fled her
village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo about a year ago, leaving behind
a 5-year-old son. "I just want peace," she said as she braided a client's hair.
She now works as a hairdresser on one of Cape Town's many bustling sidewalks,
and lives with a relative in Sea Point outside Cape Town, where many refugees
congregate. She says she will not return home unless she can be sure of lasting
peace. "I miss my son too much. It was painful for me. It was not a nice day,"
she said, remembering the day she fled approaching rebels. Rodreck Mupedziswa,
director of the forced migration studies program at the University of the
Witwatersrand, said South Africa's smaller cities, like Cape Town, were becoming
home to many who find themselves in Mujingwa's predicament. Johannesburg, the
country's financial center, has traditionally been a haven for those seeking
prosperity or trying to escape conflict. Mupedziswa said this was changing as
foreigners felt increasingly targeted by police. Africans are not the only ones
coming to Cape Town. Last year alone, nearly 1 million foreign tourists flocked
here to see its famous sites and enjoy the value they receive for their dollars,
pounds and euros, thanks to a favourable exchange rate. Yet, for all its
attractions, Cape Town has largely failed to draw black South Africans,
especially those from Johannesburg in the North, who generally have more money
to spend. The authorities have begun to recognize this, said Sheryl Ozinsky,
head of Cape Town Tourism, and are trying to create a more appropriate "tourism
package." "Tourism is mainly owned by white players and this is not sufficient,"
said Ozinsky. Plans to entice blacks south include highlighting the history of
black people in Cape Town, in particular slavery and the anti-apartheid
movement. But this alone might not be enough. For, as much as tourists might
love it, Cape Town continues to be haunted by a reputation for being more
racially polarized than South Africa's other major metropolises. Johannesburg,
Pretoria and Durban all bear the scars of the apartheid government's attempts to
divide the races. Most whites still live close to city centers while blacks are
relegated to townships on the outskirts. In Cape Town this separation persists,
leaving downtown whiter and wealthier than much of the surrounding areas. "The
township people do not venture into the restaurants, parks or other public
places, except rarely," said Owen Sichone, a lecturer in social anthropology at
the University of Cape Town. "There is some crossing of boundaries but little
socializing except maybe for kids in expensive (formerly white) schools."

Home affairs official arrested (BuaNews, 26/05)
- Home Affairs official appeared in the Pretoria District Court this month, for
allegedly accepting a R2 000 bribe from two illegal immigrants. The department
alleged Ms Raesetja Magdeline Phoshoko accepted the bribe, which then allowed
the two from the Democratic Republic of Congo to be released from detention and
eventual deportation. She was arrested on 12 May, immediately after accepting
the bribe. According to the department, the police organised crime unit played a
major role in her arrest. Ms Phoshoko who specialised as an immigration officer
will appear in court again on 30 June after being released on a R1 000 bail.

New Home Affairs minister faces administrative crisis (Business Day, 26/05)
- Cape Town Administration within the home affairs department is in crisis and
there are 300 vacant posts, says Patrick Chauke, chairman of the home affairs
portfolio committee. Chauke said yesterday that the majority of senior director
posts in the department, which employs 5700 people, were filled by people in an
acting capacity "and have been for the past four to five years". He said the
committee wanted Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and her
department to say what actions would be taken to fill the posts. "Administration
is in crisis," Chauke told the committee at a meeting to decide on its programme
for the year. He said Mapisa-Nqakula would be asked to indicate how the
department would implement its strategic programmes and objectives when she
briefed the committee next month. She would also be asked to address the process
of regulation- making for the Immigration Act. President Thabo Mbeki, during his
state of the nation address last week, indicated that the regulations needed to
be completed within three months. Chauke said services offered by the department
in the rural areas were not accessible. He said the department needed to be held
accountable for this.

Immigration regulations to facilitate skills access (Sunday Times, 2/05)
- The South African Government will compile a register of all graduates to link
them with job opportunities and learnerships available to ease their passage
into the job market. President Thabo Mbeki says Cabinet will also finalise work
on the immigration regulations "among other things to ensure that we access such
scarce skills from the rest of the world as may be required for our accelerated
development". He said in the period since the holding of the growth and
development summit, "we have reached the figure of 64,000 with regard to
learnerships. We have already studied our experience in this regard". "We will
engage all the sector education and training authorities (Setas) to increase the
uptake of learners and improve the focus on the skills that are in short
supply."

Pride and prejudice in Muizenberg: editorial (Cape Times, 21/05) -
Disturbing allegations have come to light
recently regarding violence by city police against Congolese refugees in
Muizenberg. These allegations are now the subject of an informal inquiry after
the intervention of Muizenberg MP Ben Turok. Without wishing to pre-empt the
findings of this particular inquiry, it can be noted that this is not the first
time claims have surfaced about xenophobia in Cape Town. Like many forms of
prejudice, such attitudes are usually based on ignorance and misguided feelings
of superiority. These ill feelings are often exacerbated when people from
different backgrounds become involved in disputes over scarce resources. In Cape
Town, as in our other urban areas, these revolve around competition for jobs,
housing and social support. Yet this does not make xenophobia any more
excusable. There is even more of an onus on our law-enforcement agencies to
behave honourably. After all, it is their duty to uphold the law. And our
constitution specifically prohibits discrimination "directly or indirectly
against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, ... ethnic or social
origin, ... culture, language and birth". Irrespective of the findings on the
specific incident in Muizenberg, it is high time the city develops a more
holistic approach towards dealing with xenophobia. Dealing with sporadic
outbursts is no way to deal effectively with the roots of the problem. Cape
Town, as a rapidly developing economic hub, will continue to attract people from
beyond our borders. They must not be regarded as a burden or a threat. Most are,
in fact, valuable economic assets. Others are simply folk in need of a helping
hand because of circumstances in their own countries. Only a few are usually
rogue elements. They therefore deserve to be treated fairly and respectfully.
How a society treats the most vulnerable in its midst has always been an
indication of its true worth.

Police to be investigated after xenophobic attack (Cape Times, 21/05)
- Former Western Cape deputy police commissioner, Zelda Holtzman, has launched
an informal "inquiry into alleged violence and xenophobia in Muizenberg"
following the brutal assault on three Congolese refugees, allegedly by City
Police members. On May 8, Didi Tshikaya, Bourgeois Kisong, and Gigi Mongendi
were severely beaten and needed medical attention after a police raid at their
hostel.Holtzman, who will chair the inquiry, described the investigation as "an
open and transparent process in which all people can come forward". "The inquiry
was motivated by people who got together and were disturbed by what allegedly
took place," she said. Holtzman was unable to disclose any information or
discuss the evidence. The board will give a report that outlines the results of
the inquiry within three weeks, at which time appropriate actions to overcome
xenophobia in Muizenberg will also be discussed, she said. "The idea of the
inquiry is to get information from as many different viewpoints. Then the
recommendations to direct authorities can be made. We want to be proactive in
ensuring that it doesn't happen again," said Holtzman. In addition to the
inquiry, a formal investigation of the City Police has been launched by the
Muizenberg police, according to their liaison officer, Cliff Wyeth. "All the
witness statements have been obtained. We are now waiting for the statements
from the City Police," said Wyeth. The inquiry and formal police investigation
follow the incident on May 8 in which members of the City Police raided a hostel
which houses the Congolese refugees. "I heard noise. Police were opening fire
and they were verbally abusing neighbours with xenophobic remarks," said a
neighbour, Bruce Retief. According to Retief, the police raided the hostel on
what appeared to be a drug raid, but found no illegal substances. "They didn't
show any warrant. They target population groups that are helpless. "Retief, a
member of African Renewal, an organisation that assists refugees, contacted Ben
Turok, an ANC member of parliament. The result was the inquiry board, which, in
addition to Holtzman, include Attorney Allan Harvey, UCT Professor Anthony
Butler, and others. Kisong explained: "The police screamed that nobody can go
out and nobody can go in. (An officer) hit me because I talked."Tshikaya added:
"The police hit me on my toe with a hammer. I told them that I am a human being
too. They hit me with the back of a gun. "He traced his finger on a line of
stitches on the back of his head. Tshikaya also said that the policemen barked
at them to go back to their country. The refugees gave the Cape Times
photographs showing graphic images of the deep head wound and other injuries,
and of spent shotgun cartridges which were recovered at the scene.

Child labour reports lead to farm probe (The Star, 20/05)
- Labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana has ordered that more farm inspections be
conducted around Tzaneen in Limpopo following media reports of child labour in
the area. Mdladlana said yesterday: "Employers who deliberately violate labour
laws will certainly be brought to book." Earlier yesterday, inspectors visiting
a farm near Tzaneen could not find substantive evidence of child labour.
However, there was evidence of employment of illegal immigrants. Department
spokesperson Monwabisi McClean said another joint inspection with Department of
Home Affairs officials would be conducted soon, because neither the farm nor its
teenage workers could produce identity documents. "The children were left on the
farm until the next inspection can prove whether the farmer committed any
offence and whether the youths were indeed Mozambicans," he said. The Labour
Department would further not explain why yesterday's inspection had been delayed
for about a week. McClean would not say whether the immigrant child labourers
would be deported, but warned that inspections would be intensified on five
farms in the area to check if they complied with basic conditions of employment
and child labour legislation. Yesterday, the trade union federation Cosatu
entered the fray, urging the government to stop exploitation of children on
farms. The Star reported yesterday that Maniki citrus farm in the Letsitele
farming area, between Tzaneen and Phalaborwa, had illegally employed children as
young as 14 to pick oranges. The children, who are illegal immigrants from
neighbouring Mozambique, were reportedly being paid R170 a week for picking 500
bags of oranges. Fourteen-year-old Musasa Ngobeni recounted how abject poverty
had led him to leave school and illegally enter South Africa to pick oranges at
Maniki. Because he is an illegal immigrant and too young to work legally here,
he lives in fear that police will arrest and deport him, to face joblessness and
starvation. Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven yesterday criticised the farmer
for allegedly refusing to allow its affiliate, the SA Agricultural Plantation
and Allied Workers Union (Saapawu), entry to the farm to investigate working
conditions there. Saapawu regional organiser Catholise Moraba blamed the Labour
Department's inspectorate for failing to take prompt action against the
exploitation of children and illegal immigrants. Cas Saloojee, chairperson of
the parliamentary ad hoc committee on social development, said poverty forced
many children to work for survival. "We are also deeply alarmed that the adults
reported to be involved in this exploitation of children seek to deny and shift
their responsibility," he said. Attempts to obtain comment from Maniki farm
manager Boka Smith were unsuccessful yesterday.

Minister orders child labour crackdown (Johannesburg, Sapa, 19/05)
- Labour minister Membathisi Md1adlana has ordered that more blitz inspections
be conducted around Tzaneen in Limpopo following media reports of child labour
in the area. Mdladlana said on Wednesday: "Employers who deliberately violate
labour laws will certainly be brought to book." Earlier on Wednesday inspectors
visiting a farm near Tzaneen could not find substantive evidence of child labour.
However, there was evidence of the employment of illegal immigrants. A
Johannesburg newspaper reported on Wednesday that a farm in the area had
illegally employed children as young as 14 to pick oranges. The children, who
were illegal immigrants from Mozambique, reportedly being paid R170 a week. The
Congress of SA Trade Unions called on government to stop exploitation of
children on the farm. Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said the labour federation
was "angry" and "appalled" at the reports.

Health minister aims to stem medical exodus (Sunday Times, 19/05) -
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang proposed a resolution to the World
Health Assembly (WHA) on Tuesday which she hopes will stem the flow of qualified
health workers from developing countries to better-paid jobs in the rest of the
world, her spokesman said. It was hoped that the resolution would eventually
lead to the adoption of an international treaty on the hiring of health workers
from developing countries. "She has proposed the resolution because there is
currently no World Health Organisation (WHO) guiding document on the migration
of health workers," Sibani Mngadi told Sapa from Switzerland, where the WHA was
meeting. Tshabalala-Msimang was elected one of five vice presidents of the
assembly on Monday. "We want to get a code of practice for the recruitment of
health personnel which would consider the effects of recruitment on the country.
There is a need for government-to-government discussion on the subject and a
need to acknowledge that migration is hampering the health systems of developing
countries," Mngadi said. "It is one of the most serious problems in South Africa
and affects the whole Africa and other developing countries."

UK still hiring SA's nurses despite agreement (Cape Times, 18/05)
- The British National Health Service (NHS) is still poaching nurses from South
Africa and other developing countries, despite an agreement not to do so. This
was the allegation from leaders of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), quoted in
a South African weekend news- paper, who accused the NHS of "underhand
recruitment" through agencies, and said this was "akin to smuggling". The nurses
were speaking at the RCN's annual congress, which backed a motion condemning the
recruitment of foreign nurses to plug shortages in the NHS. At the congress,
Thembeka Gwagwa, chief executive of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South
Africa (Denosa), reported that South Africa was losing 300 nurses a month to the
First World. The RCN said that in the past three years 40 000 foreign nurses -
about 45% of all new registrations in that period - had registered to work in
Britain. Most were from South Africa, the Philippines and India. In a statement
sent to the Cape Times, Britain's health secretary, John Reid, neither confirmed
nor denied the reported allegations. "We're very proud of the ethical
recruitment code, which was the first of its kind and the most stringent in the
world," he said. "The code has had a significant impact. "However, we want to
make sure that we make it even stronger by clearing up ambiguities, so that
those organisations that provide overseas staff only recruit from countries
whose governments feel they are not short-staffed with nurses. "We will also
strengthen and clarify the code in relation to independent agencies." The
Guardian newspaper quoted international development minister Clare Short as
saying that commercial agencies were not abiding by the government code of
conduct. Ethical principles needed to be drawn up for these agencies, and the
NHS should not use agencies that refused to subscribe to these principles, she
said. The NHS would need to continue recruiting nurses from overseas, but it was
important that this did not drain "scarce, precious, crucial expertise from
developing countries", she said. The UK code of conduct discourages the
recruitment of nurses from 150 countries including South Africa that are short
of health staff. In addition, South Africa and the United Kingdom signed a
memorandum of understanding last October for an exchange of health care staff
that would benefit both countries. South African doctors and nurses should study
and work in the UK for limited periods, according to this memorandum. Late last
year Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang revealed that almost 31 000
nursing posts were standing empty in South Africa. Gauteng had the greatest
nursing shortage, with 7 976 posts standing empty. The Western Cape had 2 533
vacancies. Figures from South Africa's Nursing Council, supplied yesterday by
Denosa president Ephraim Masolo, are that between 2 000 and 3 000 nurses have
been leaving the country annually in the past few years.

No plans for massive foreign recruitment (Pretoria, Sapa, 18/05) -
There are no plans for a massive foreign
recruitment drive to fill vacant professional positions in the civil service,
Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on
Tuesday. "Our focus must remain on building the skills base amongst our people,"
she said in a statement in Pretoria. "Government has no plans to go on a
wide-scale recruitment drive in any foreign country." The minister was
commenting on a Sunday newspaper report based on an interview with her, which
she described as sensational. The Sunday Times quoted her as saying the public
service needed some 20,000 new top-level personnel. They would be recruited
mainly from elsewhere in Africa, India and Iraq. But at the lower skilled end of
the scale, several thousand jobs would need to be shed. This would be done, the
minister was reported as saying, only after exploring opportunities for re-skilling,
re-deploying and retrenching staff. On Tuesday, Fraser-Moleketi said the report
had "understandably raised the ire of many South Africans". The recruitment of
staff from elsewhere was not "essentially the crux of the interview". South
Africa, she said, may recruit from countries with which it had bilateral
agreements. But this did not mean skilled South Africans would be neglected and
overlooked. "Where there are skills shortages in specific areas, the issue will
be looked at case by case and decisions made with regard to recruitment so as
best to serve the needs of the people of South Africa," she said.

Refugee stories of trauma and despair (Johannesburg, Globe and Mail, 17/05)
- The suitcases are bright with paint and stuck with beads and glitter. One is
decorated with a sketch of the mango tree back home in Rwanda. Another has
written around its edges, in uncertain children's handwriting, "I used to cry a
lot. . . I will grow up and I won't cry any more." Many of the cases bear the
vibrant colours of the South African flag. The suitcases were made by children
in an extraordinary informal art class held every Saturday morning in an
inner-city high school in Johannesburg. The young artists are refugees, most of
them what are known as "unaccompanied minors." Orphaned or separated from their
families by war, they walked and hitchhiked their way down the continent to the
haven of South Africa. This group of about 15 children -- ranging in age from 5
to 17 -- has organized into an improvised family, scrabbling to survive in
Johannesburg. And every Saturday morning they gather together to make art.
Glynis Clacherty, a former teacher, first met some of the children three years
ago. She was amazed by the de facto family they had formed, living in a couple
of grim flats in Hillbrow, the most violent neighbourhood in the world's most
violent city. The children had sporadic supervision from a couple of "foster
mothers" (Burundian women who were refugees with their own children) and a
little help from the Jesuit Refugee Service, which paid their school fees and
supplied a food parcel each month. But mostly, the kids were on their own.
"These children are not victims -- these are the bright ones, the ones who had
the courage to run," Clacherty said. "They are the survivors. I tell them that:
that no one is going to look after them, but they can look after each other."
With her friend Diane Welvering, an art teacher, Clacherty began to run informal
classes for the children, thinking they might be therapeutic. And Indeed, as the
children learned how to make prints and use pastels, they began to tell their
stories. Two Ethiopian girls were separated from their families when their
village was burned in the war with Eritrea; one covered much of the length of
Africa on foot. A pair of boys fled Burundi's war, into refugee camps in
Tanzania, but the camps were so grim that they struck out for the south. Two
Congolese girls lost their families fleeing the Democratic Republic of Congo's
civil war. They all ended up in Hillbrow. 'There is a whole network of people
who live off these [refugees], trafficking in people, taking them at night by
boat into Mozambique, overland into Swaziland, then down into Jo'burg," said
Clacherty, who works as an education researcher. "Then they get here, and the
local people don't want them, the police harass them, and the services are
totally inadequate." Many South Africans are deeply hostile to the refugees who
pour into their country, blaming them for taking scarce jobs and running
criminal gangs. South Africa has stringent laws governing refugee claimants and
asylum seekers, and deports 1,000 people a week back to each of Zimbabwe and
Mozambique. Last month, however, the laws were relaxed slightly to allow asylum
seekers to work or study during the five or six years it takes for them to
obtain legal status here. When refugee children arrive, they usually don't speak
English, and they are daunted by Johannesburg's metropolitan bustle. Yet within
months it is hard to tell refugee kids from other teens on the Hillbrow streets:
They quickly learn English, and somehow rustle up a pair of Low-rider
jeans or an American baseball cap. They learn the latest Zulu slang, and walk
like they own the sidewalks. In their suitcase project, they tell the stories of
their lives today in South Africa on the outside of the cases, and the story of
home on the inside. Maggie, a 15-year-old from the Democratic Republic of Congo,
arrived here six years ago. She said she is doing well in high school and wants
to be a social worker. On her suitcase she has drawn the brightly lit high-rise
blocks of Hillbrow. But Maggie is determined to go back to the country she still
thinks of as Zaire because she wants to find her mother and little sisters. "How
do I know that my mother is having a good life in Zaire? I have to go find her."
One suitcase bears the words "Lees Get Free" painted over the child artist's
self-portrait, tears running down his face. A Rwandan boy who lost his family in
the genocide, using his new English, wrote, "I sometime cry and ask why -- why
my mother die when she have to look after me". As Clacherty sees it, "The
suitcases have become something that they can reinvent. They see that their
lives are multistoried, not single-storied, and that they are not trapped in a
single story that says they are refugees only." Although the suitcases have been
their main project, Welvering regularly introduces the group to new art supplies
and techniques. Recently she was confounded when one of the boys, 16-year-old
Jackson, mixed eight types of paint for the exact shade of blue he wanted. "It's
a way to remember where we're from and also to show South Africans that we
refugees also have knowledge," Jackson said of the art projects. He fled the war
in Burundi 10 years ago, when he was only 6. Last year the office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Pretoria heard about the art-therapy
project and offered a little funding; the project now may be replicated with
other groups of refugee children. And recently the UNHCR and Jesuit Refugee
Service agreed to formally take over the project, much to Clacherty's delight.

Public servants criticise foreign recruitment (Pretoria, Sapa, 17/05) -
Public servants on Monday criticised reported
plans to recruit professionals and senior staff to the civil service from India,
Iran and Africa. "It is regrettable to hear the (public service) minister
(Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi) talk about retrenching South Africans and replacing
them with foreigners," the National Union of Public Servants and Allied Workers
said. It was especially disturbing against the background of the recent
elections, when ruling party promises of more jobs abounded, Nupsaw general
secretary Success Mataitsane said. "Never did they say they would be looking
beyond South Africa's borders for these jobs." He also expressed concern about
the minister's reported statement that several thousand "unproductive" jobs
would be shed. "The victims of apartheid are now becoming victims of democracy,"
Mataitsane said. "We will fight against retrenchments to the bitter end, even if
it means taking to the streets." Fraser-Moleketi told the Sunday Times the
public service needed more than 20,000 new top-level personnel. They would be
recruited mainly from elsewhere in Africa, India and Iraq.

Civil service to recruit in India, Iran (Johannesburg, Sunday Times, 17/05)
- Government is set to shed thousands of "unproductive jobs" and simultaneously
recruit many professionals and senior staff from India, Iran and Africa. Public
Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi told the Sunday
Times this week that more than 20 000 new personnel were needed - possibly a
great deal more. She said a high-level team was probing the needs of the
government and would start reporting on these needs within three months. At the
lowest level, the government had to shed only "several thousand" unproductive
jobs and not the 20 000 that had been reported. This would only be done after
exploring opportunities for re-skilling, re-deploying or retrenching of staff.
Jobs affected could include those on government-run agricultural projects.
Fraser-Moleketi said recruiting new personnel would take place primarily in
African countries and in India and Iran, where South Africa had bilateral
agreements. South Africa also had a South-South policy and would seek talent in
Southern Hemisphere countries, but in all cases would be careful not to poach
staff, Fraser-Moleketi said. Considered to have effectively completed a policy
framework for the restructuring of the civil service, Fraser-Moleketi kept her
job in the Cabinet shuffle which followed last month's election. This week she
said she was excited about the next five years, adding that she would push for
the development of an integrated, co-ordinated approach to improve service
delivery from government departments which share resources and work on joint
programmes. It is now clear that the introduction of a senior management service
group two years ago - which was planned in 2000 - has only been partly
successful. Hence the search for new personnel. Fraser-Moleketi admitted losing
top-level personnel to the private sector and abroad. But she added that this
was happening at a similar rate in the private sector. A number of top personnel
in government jobs, including two directors-general, have resigned and moved to
the private sector in the past month. Some have moved for new career
opportunities while others were reported to have left because the Cabinet
reshuffle left them with ministers they felt couldn't work with. Asked about
medical specialists, highly trained nurses and teachers, Fraser-Moleketi said a
detailed study was being conducted into immediate and long-term skills in these
areas. She said South African specialists were being targeted by the US, Canada
and Europe. Nurses and teachers were particularly attracted by the opportunity
to earn pounds. However, Fraser-Moleketi cautioned those thinking of moving to
Britain that many who had made the move discovered that they didn't get salary
increases or fringe benefits, and that they couldn't afford to live near their
jobs. Fraser-Moleketi's thinking behind the development of the senior management
service was first made known in a media briefing in September 2000. The service
was aimed at developing an effective management core which would accelerate
service delivery and attract, develop and retain good managers with strong
leadership skills. They should embody the values of a new patriotism and a new
social morality to combat and prevent corruption in the public service.
Professionals and specialists at a senior level were to be paid at the same
levels as senior management in the private sector. Fraser-Moleketi said this
week that she wanted to look more closely at ways of finding career paths for
professionals and to give them "a sense of being employed by a service rather
than [being] in posts". She said she would be focusing particularly on senior
management, from director level up to director-general, and top specialists from
levels 12 to 14.

Nurses urged to remain in SA (Daily Dispatch, 13/05)
- "Nursing is a calling. There are days when I am very tired, but you have to
make sacrifices. I'm tired, but for a cause. "These are the words of nurse
Cynthia Plaaitjies, 49, a South African nurse who refuses to leave the country
despite the exodus of many of her colleagues. "Our profession is faced with the
tremendous strain of a poverty- stricken society and we must brighten the
corners wherever we are." International Nurses Day was celebrated here yesterday
with prayer services in most hospitals. A national newspaper reported that,
because of the exodus of nurses, coupled with too few entering the profession,
South Africa may face a shortage of 18750 nurses by 2011. Nurses in the United
States earn almost seven times the salary of nurses here. The attraction of
better working conditions and earnings is luring South African nurses to distant
shores. "To those people who have left the country I beg and appeal to them to
consider returning. Things have changed," said Plaaitjies. "I went through the
bitter days of apartheid but we won it over. I can't see why we can't move
forward now. Hospitals are more democratic and management is approachable. "We
are free to voice grievances and have better access to resources." Frere
Hospital deputy director of nursing Lungiswa Maqaqa urged nurses to lead the
struggle against Aids, poverty and ignorance.

New minister tasked to deal with immigration (SABC News, 13/05) -
Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, the newly appointed home
affairs minister, has been tasked by Cabinet to urgently convene the Committee
of Ministers dealing with Immigration Regulations. It was Cabinet's first
meeting since the elections of April 14 today. Joel Netshitenzhe, the head of
government communications and information services, says Cabinet's decision
follows President Thabo Mbeki's successful court action last month to stop the
publication of immigration regulations due to have come into effect in March.
Netshitenzhe says other issues discussed at the meeting, were economic growth
and development the provision of social services, security and justice matters
of governance and international relations. Netshitenze says attention was paid
to the challenges in the coming five years and on concrete programmes that need
implementation and immediate effect. He says the President's address to the
nation next week will articulate most of the detail to come out of the two-day
meeting.

SA destination for trafficked children (Pretoria, Sapa, 11/05)
- South Africa is a major destination and source for international child
trafficking, a conference on human trafficking heard in Pretoria today. Susan
Kreston of the Council of the National Centre for Justice and the Rule of Law in
the USA told the conference, arranged by the Institute for Security Studies,
that between 28 000 and 38 000 children were currently being prostituted in
South Africa. "Up to 25% of prostitutes in South Africa are children, and up to
25%t of street children are prostitutes," she told the conference. In a 2003
study on migration, South Africa was described as the main destination for
trafficked children in Southern Africa. "Many are sent from Angola, Botswana,
(the Democratic Republic of) Congo and Lesotho as well as from Thailand and
Russia," the report detailed. It also said that many South African children were
sent to Europe and Asia to work as sex slaves, labour slaves or both. Kreston
explained that human trafficking was the fastest growing source of profit for
organised criminal enterprises worldwide. "It is currently second only to guns
and drugs. But the advantage of human cargo is they can be reused unlike drugs,"
she said. She said it was currently a US7 billion dollar (about R49 billion)
global industry with up to US30 000 (R210 000) paid for a child. Many sold by
parents: Kreston noted that many of the children prostituted in South Africa had
been sold by their parents. Some parents thought they were doing their children
a favour by handing them over to people promising them better education and work
opportunities. These children often end up on the opposite side of the world
being sexually exploited. An estimated 900 000 people are trafficked
internationally every year. She detailed a story of a five-year-old Taiwanese
boy who had been passed from one "owner" to another and as a result had ended up
in America with full blown Aids. "South Africa is the same as the United States
in that it is a magnet state. Because it is mostly economically developed,
cosmopolitan and diverse it has become a lucrative market for child traffickers.
"In a three tier grading system - where one is a country doing its utmost to
stop trafficking - South Africa is listed in tier two with 52 other countries
which included Canada, India, Kenya, Thailand Russia and Brazil. "South Africa
has laws but needs to do more," said Kreston, adding that legislation combined
with a working criminal justice system would jump South Africa into the first
tier. "It's getting there, it just needs that final push," she said.

SA nurses in the UK (BBC News, 11/05) - The UK
has been relying heavily on overseas nurses to bolster staffing levels. Nearly
half of all new registration nurses in the UK come from abroad.The NHS has a
policy to ban recruitment from developing countries, but many private healthcare
sectors do not follow this code of ethics. South Africa is losing 300 nurses
each month as the move overseas to seek better payment and working conditions,
according to Mrs Barbara Nicholls, Chief Executive for the US Commission on
Graduates for Foreign Nursing. The Royal College of Nursing is worried that
overseas nurses will not want to continue to come to live and work in the UK. I
wanted to learn so that is why I came. BBC Online News talks to two foreign
nurses working in the UK to find out what attracted them to work here and
whether they plan to stay. Lena Masondo is a 47 year old nurse who, up until two
years ago, was working in Johannesburg in South Africa. She is currently working
in elderly care at the Salford Royal Hospital, but first joined an agency
recruiting for an independent nursing home. Lena said she decided to come to
live and work in the UK for the pay and educational opportunities. "I wanted to
learn so that is why I came. I was attracted by the money promised. But the
money is quite low - lower than I was promised. "What I'm getting is better than
what I was getting at home. It was far too low." In South Africa, Lena earned
74,000 Rand per year, which equates to about £5,900 per year. In the UK she is
earning about £18,000 per year as an E-Grade nurse. Lena has a husband and three
children, the youngest being three years old, who she has had to leave behind.
She said she had no real choice because she wanted to provide the best she could
for her family. "I decided with my husband that I should come over. It's not
nice leaving your family, leaving your country. I didn't do it deliberately, I
was pushed." Lena is still sending money back to her family. She plans to return
to her home town in the future. But she said: "If I had a chance to see my
family more regularly I would stay longer. I want to stay." Ghana to the
UK Matthew Tay, 38, came to the UK from Ghana five years ago. In Ghana he was on
a sabbatical working both as a union representative and on behalf of a minister.
We have a wealth of experience but then we are all stuck at the bottom. Matthew
Tay He decided to trade his higher position for the promise of better pay in the
UK. He was recruited by an agency for the NHS and is now working for the Barnet,
Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust as a mental health nurse. Matthew says,
in reality, the monetary gains are not as great as he had hoped. "Initially it
felt like a big difference but it does change because you still have to pay your
rent and run your car and pay your insurance and so it gets eroded. "I have
serious plans to go back. But the difference is that you come and live here and
you get used to a different way of living and so it makes it a bit more
difficult when you haven't got the necessary facilities in place back home."
Matthew has a wife and two children who still live in Ghana. "I've left them and
I'm struggling to bring them here. My youngest son is now eight. He was three
when I left him." Matthew Tay says going back would be a problem Most nurses who
return to Ghana after working in the UK find it difficult to fit back into the
system, he said. "There are a variety of issues that make it difficult to go
back - political, the use of the law, patients rights, nurses rights. "I may go
back but the question is am I going back to nursing because of all of those
issues." Those who decide to stay in the UK do not necessarily get equitably
rewarded. "I've been a nurse for 13 years. I'm well qualified. But then you come
over [here] all of this is not recognised. "We have a wealth of experience but
then we are all stuck at the bottom and one out of 10 might move up but the
majority stay at the bottom." "I work in acute psychiatric care. For 80% of the
time I was in charge of the ward and yet I'm still an E-grade."

Local nurses rethink emigration to Middle East (SABC News, 11/05)
- With the escalating political uncertainty in the Middle East, nurses in South
Africa are rethinking their emigration and contract labour options in that
region. Tomorrow is International Nurses Day and in some parts of the country
hospitals report a break in the exodus of South African nursing professionals.
Private health care networks say vacancies are down. There is an increase in
student enrolments at public hospitals. Private hospitals have shown a drop in
vacancies, down from 20 to 13% last year. Two years ago the picture was bleak.
In 2002 more than 2 000 South African nurses left for the United Kingdom, mainly
due to poor salaries and working conditions. However, it remains a popular
profession with registration and student numbers rising each year. Private
hospitals appear to be winning the battle against the lure of hefty paycheques.
They have done it by offering attractive incentives, such as study leave in
countries like the United Kingdom. Government has also negotiated a controlled
exchange programme with that country which would be of benefit to both.

Signing of plans for voluntary repatriation of Angola refugees (UNHCR,
07/05) - UNHCR and the governments of South
Africa and Angola will today sign a plan of operation for the voluntary
repatriation of thousands of Angolan refugees in South Africa. The signing will
take place in Pretoria at the first meeting of a tripartite commission that was
established at the signing of a formal tripartite agreement between the parties
last December. The voluntary repatriation program from South Africa to Angola is
expected to begin in August of this year. Some 4,000 Angolan refugees in South
Africa are expected to return home over an 18-month period. In all, there are
some 13,000 Angolan refugees in South Africa, but many have integrated into
local society. On a related subject, our partners at WFP yesterday announced
that they are still very worried about an acute funding shortage for the
provision of food for nearly 1.4 million Angolans who have already returned to
their homes or are scheduled to be repatriated from neighboring countries. UNHCR
joins WFP in urging donors to provide the support necessary to ensure that
Angolans can not only go home but stay home. UNHCR and the Tripartite
Commissions with Angola and the respective Governments of the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo (RoC), Namibia and Zambia have all
met in recent weeks to discuss 2004 returns. Organised repatriation movements
are planned to resume in June this year through the corridors established in
2003. The respective dates of resumption will depend primarily on climatic
conditions specific to each repatriation region. Throughout the region, UNHCR
plans to assist some 145,000 Angolans to return and reintegrate this year.

Article on foreign migration in Johannesburg (Mail & Guardian, 07/05)
- A motley crew of chess players from the African continent can be seen playing
at a restaurant just a stone’s throw away from Yeoville’s park, where nearly a
decade-and-a-half ago Ronnie Kasrils sat on a bench, watching to see whether he
was being tailed by apartheid goons during Operation Vula. While sitting on the
bench, Kasrils began reminiscing about his “childhood stomping ground”, he
writes in his biography Armed and Dangerous. Any visitor strolling through
Yeoville now will notice how dramatically it has changed from Kasrils’s
childhood days. Nigerians can be seen in bars, forcefully arguing their points
of view. Congolese men use the streets as a catwalk, displaying the latest
Afro-chic couture — trousers belted up to their navels, white shirts sporting
ties hanging just below the chest with a huge knot at the neck. In butcheries
along Raleigh Street, svelte coffee-cream-skinned Ethiopian girls gaily chatter
in their native Amharic as they wait for customers to arrive for the morning
trade. Such is the new African presence in Yeoville that mini-capitals of
Harare, Kinshasa, Addis Ababa, Accra and Lagos have sprung up as restaurants,
telephone kiosks, cosmetic stores, grocery shops and places of worship to
respective gods. But five years ago, this pan-African rainbow was yet to arch
over Yeoville (and other streets in central Johannesburg) as local hawkers
fought pitched battles against their foreign competitors, whom they accused of
stealing their jobs. And it seemed there was nothing locals wouldn’t do to get
their jobs back — even if it meant committing murder. Remember the incident of
the Mozambican who was killed when he was thrown out of a moving train by a
baying mob heading back to Johannesburg after protesting for jobs in Pretoria?
And let’s not forget the two Senegalese men on the same train who, rather than
face the same fate, tried to escape by climbing on top of the train, only to be
braaied by overhead electricity cables. My local friends advise me to study the
dynamics in place in South Africa’s socio-political arena so that I don’t fall
victim to “xenophobia”. I am a Nigerian resident in South Africa. The first
dynamic that struck me was in the late Nineties, when I was sitting in the
audience of the Felicia Showt. I digested the words of one Makaziwe Mandela. In
a high-pitched whine she said, to the cheers and applause of the local component
of the studio audience, that it was the people who stayed in South Africa during
apartheid who liberated this country, while those in exile had returned and
“taken over” the country. This resentment between those who stayed in the
country and the exilers who returned home to rule was adroitly expressed by John
Kani in the play Nothing But the Truth. Kani plays Sipho Makhaya, a cantankerous
old man who sees his ambition to become the first black chief librarian thwarted
when an exiler waltzes into the post. Kani cracks a joke in the play wondering
what the exiles will take over next. What has the struggle between those who
stayed and the former exiles got to do with xenophobia, you might ask? Simply
put, black foreigners are perceived to be “taking over” places like Yeoville and
are the lightning rod that is struck by locals who feel powerless. But it is one
thing to be a lightning rod and it is quite another to be the conductor on a
house into which you were not invited. One always perceives a sense of wariness
when meeting a black local for the first time. Because the question forming in
their mind is: “What the hell is this foreigner going to do in my country?”
Let’s face it, the record of the last set of (white) foreigners who arrived on
the three sailing ships Drommedaris, Reijger and Goede Hoop in Table Bay to
collect victuals in 1652 isn’t particularly great. It would be ludicrous to
suggest that today’s black foreign arrivals have any intention to colonise South
Africa, let alone on the scale that Jan van Riebeeck and his successors did. But
what gets up the noses of locals and indeed fuels the resentment that leads to
“xenophobic” rage is the behaviour of bad elements from the black foreign
communities. Stories abound of Zimbabwean syndicates controlling cash-in-transit
heists, or their less-talented compatriots shooting locals dead for cellphones
(which they sell for a measly R50). Neither can the actions of Nigerians — with
their drug dealing and 419 scams — help change negative perceptions. The
question locals no doubt ask is: “Did we liberate this country for such nonsense
to take root?” Perhaps what grates them even more is the fact that Africans from
failed states have swarmed into the country like avaricious locusts to feed on
the green shoots of South Africa’s democracy — and have become economically
prosperous as a result. The question raised is: What are the loyalties of these
foreigners? Will they accept this country, warts and all, and help build it to
be Africa’s and the world’s economic and industrial powerhouse? Or will they up
and leave when the going gets tough, or quit when things improve at home? Are
South Africans xenophobic? I respond with a resounding “No”! In Leon Schuster’s
Oh, Shucks, I’m Gatvol, a “Rambo-nation” understanding of South Africa’s
socio-political dynamics certainly helps avert a necklacing. That’s a lesson
missed by petty thieves from Zimbabwe and their families, who paid dearly with
their lives in Zandspruit informal settlement on the West Rand in October 2001.

Xenophobia report: New South African (Mail & Guardian, 07/05)
- One of the most visible changes in the ten years of democracy is the way SA
has changed from being an isolated and fearful " corner cut off from the rest of
the continent, to an open vibrant hub of the southern hemisphere. The move from
a closed oppressive state to an open democratic one changed not only the
internal politics of the country but has seen South Africa become involved in
the trend which people and skills have become highly in mobile, moving around
the globe regularly and freely. The opening of SA's borders has meant that
for the first time many . South Africans have come into contact with people from
other cultures, not always with happy results. The knee jerk response " not
dissimilar to xenophobic reactions to immigration worldwide has been that
foreigners contribute only crime and disease, while " stealing jobs to which
locals have an entitlement. Research by the Southern African Migration Project
shows that South Africans have demonstrated the highest level of opposition to "
immigration recorded in any country where such research has been done. Yet only
4 of locals had actually had any contact with immigrants, and no real
understanding of the experiences and intentions of these people. The common
perceptions of migrants often have little or no basis in , reality. Research
shows there is no "uncontrollable flood of illegal .. immigrants". In fact the
vast majority of migrants have official passports from their home country and
had entered the country at " formal immigration posts. The people who migrate
tend to be those who have the most skills and resources (personal and financial
), and therefore have something to offer their host country. While some migrants
do come to SA for for jobs, many more also come to visit family, for a .
holiday, for shopping and on business. Far from stealing jobs from " locals,
many migrants set up businesses and create employment for South Africans.
Cross-border traders boost the economy by bringing goods into the country to
sell and then spending most of the money they earn right here in South Africa.
Most migrants don't intend to live here permanently, seeing levels of crime and
violence as making this an unsafe place to raise families. , While the
strereotype is that all foreigners are criminals, the reality d is that more
often than not they are victims of crime rather than the cause of it., While
migrants, particularly from other African countries, question the legitimacy of
borders drawn up in colonial times, most accept the notion of selective
immigration policies and don't expect the SA government to throw its borders
wide open. They would, however, like to see immigration policies applied in a
rational and humane way. Vincent Williams of SAMP warns that more restrictive
policies will simply drive migration underground.

Where illegal migrants seek refugee (The East African Standard, 02/05)
- Inside a cramped cubicle in Hillbrow, Johannesburg's notorious inner city,
three year-old Miriam jerks involuntarily at the sound of a gunshot echoing in
the night across the walls of the high-rise flats. "Too much crime around," says
her smiling mother Liumwani Ramaliuhana, a refugee from Zimbabwe as she waves
her left hand casually at the dark window. "Tonight they sleep without food,"
she says indirectly to Miriam and her three other sisters, the gunshot incident
instantly forgotten, her eyes glistening, maybe, with tears. Two unlucky
immigrants who cannot find shelter or food sleep in the hostile streets of
Johannesburg. It is in Hillbrow, South Africa's crime-infested inner city, that
most Kenyan immigrants find affordable shelter. It is also home to most legal
and illegal immigrants from Africa and across the world. For as little as R200 (Shs
2,000) one will share accommodation in a single room with as many as seven
others - bed sheets dangling from strings partitioning their privacy. Many
desperate Kenyans seeking better opportunities or selling artefacts consider
Hillbrow home. Few know the dark side of Hillbrow. Sometimes it is too late when
the realisation hit them, having become just another statistical data in the
police crime records. The few who are able, move to the less insecure, but still
dangerous, tenets of Yeoville and Berea. Most Kenyan inhabitants of Hillbrow
prefer occupying one whole flat - just like their Congolese, Nigerian,
Senegalese, Mozambican, Zimbabwean, Angolese or Cameroonian counterparts. To
illustrate how much out of control crime is in Hillbrow, the Democratic Alliance
health spokesman Jack Bloom has compiled "shock" statistics from a written reply
to his question in parliament last year to Gauteng Safety and Community Liaison
MEC Nomvula Mokonyane. "A staggering 59,000 crimes were committed in Hillbrow
between 1999 and 2001, including 640 murders, 988 rapes, 7,521 assaults, 6775
robberies with firearms, 7,689 other robberies, 3,523 vehicles stolen, 18,7171
other thefts ... 1,347 drug related crimes," he said. The Minister's office
stopped releasing detailed statistics two years ago, and instead prefers to
calculate reports into averages after the figures were seen to be alarming. The
police know the criminal elements of Hillbrow but are restrained by law because,
director Louw says, the criminals have found ways of manipulating the system
through corruptive techniques. He names six sleaze hotels, which he says they
know are homes to drug dealers, addicts and prostitutes. A Hillbrow detective
estimates that 80 per cent of fellow policemen are also addicted to drugs and
alcohol or work part time as bodyguards, or security men in most of the sleaze
hotels making it impossible to conduct secret police operations. A young police
constable fresh from school earns a gross salary of R3,200 (Sh32,000) per month
which is then whittled down to about R2, 000 after taxes and other obligatory
deductions. Director Louw encourages residents of all nationalities to report
corrupt policemen, and says he has three policemen suspended on allegations of
corruption and one for assassination. Gareth Newham and Themba Masuku of the
Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation say it is hard for the
victims of corrupt policemen to file a complaint because the victims are mostly
always illegal immigrants or law-breakers. Ted Legget of the Institute for
Security Studies and author of Rainbow Tenemet, a book about Hillbrow flats, say
the only solution is to introduce drastic legislation that legalises all
undocumented persons. He suggests that all buildings with absentee landlords be
repossessed, renovated and sold back to the tenants. "Building owners are not
accountable to what is happening in the building and that needs to be corrected.
Thin out the population," says Legget. Business owners in Hillbrow lament the
proliferation of hawkers and grime as the main cause of crime in Hillbrow.
Director Louw agrees and says apart from taking over flats, the drug gangs have
also established territorial controls as a means of protection from imminent
police raids. "The fruit vendor, cigarette hawker, street barbers are all fronts
of an elaborate lookout system," he says. Amid all the gunshots that can be
mistaken for celebratory crackers, Miriam dozes having eaten the only crumb of
bread as her elder sister Rebecca prepares for her next day at a nearby
barricaded community school for refugees. Beware Hillbrow, Kenyans.

South Africa's white flight changes gear (Johannesburg, Reuters, 01/05)
- After two years of trying to start a new life in Canada, 42-year-old Marcelle
Vorster was desperate to return home to South Africa."Please don't tell me where
to buy boerewors - just get me home," she pleaded in an email to South Africa's
"Come Home" campaign - a civil society initiative working to keep skilled people
in the country. Ten years after the end of apartheid, an exodus of mainly white
South Africans is still growing. But anecdotal evidence suggests that for the
first time it is being offset by a heavy influx of people - both returning
expatriates and foreigners. 'I didn't realise how difficult it would be to live
abroad' Vorster returned home with her two teenage daughters early in 2004, some
of the growing number of white South Africans abroad who have decided they will
accept high levels of violent crime and a job market which discriminates against
them. "I didn't realise how difficult it would be to live abroad," said Vorster.
"I realised how much more freedom we have here - there are less rules and
regulations, people are easy to talk to and less robotic. I'm still scared of
the crime... but the biggest problem for me now is I can't find work," she said.
Vorster's husband, a car mechanic, is still in Canada because he also can't find
a job in his own country - where the unemployment rate stands at 40 percent and
employers are trying to right the wrongs of apartheid with affirmative action.
Official figures show that more than 16,000 people emigrated in 2003 - nearly 50
percent up on the previous year and the highest number since South Africa's
first democratic election in 1994, when 10 000 left the country. As in the past,
the most popular destination is Britain, followed by Europe, Australia, Canada
and New Zealand. But the reasons for the outflow have shifted, after a decade
which showed fears of political and economic instability were unfounded. Crime
is still often the main factor, but most of the white people who leave now -
particularly those with children - say a big concern is the job market and the
impact of affirmative action to give the black majority more control of the
economy. "I don't think the economy is growing at a rate that will sustain the
rate of school-leavers," said Armand Mizan, a 41-year-old accountant who
emigrated to Australia early in 2004. "I have two young children and I'm
concerned about their future". This perception is bad news for South Africa,
which needs skilled workers to help grow the economy and to pass on their
expertise - particularly in the fields of medicine, engineering and IT. Every
skilled South African who leaves makes 10 unskilled workers jobless, according
to research by the University of South Africa (Unisa) in Pretoria. The exodus
costs the country around R800-million in lost tax revenue each year. With an
estimated 400 000 South Africans living abroad, emigration has already cost the
country about R285-billion, Unisa says. A straw poll by local advertising agency
Morrisjones&co in 2002 found that 78 percent of South Africans who left the
country would like to return - because they miss family, friends, sunshine and
the way of life. Former rugby captain Francois Pienaar, who led the country's
Springbok team to victory after the demise of apartheid, came back in December
2002 after a six-year absence. "The most obvious reason was family and friends,"
he said. "I also wanted my children to have the more balanced primary education
they will get here - we offer more sports, culture, art and music. It teaches
values and teamwork. "IT specialist Nico van Beest said it was easy to leave the
Netherlands after six and a half years. Like many other white South Africans, he
was forced to start his own business, but he is glad he did. "The culture is so
different, those guys are so private you always feel like an outsider. You never
get invited home to meet their families or spend a weekend. Here it's common,"
he said. In January 2003, two women from MorrisJones decided to launch a
non-profit initiative - the Homecoming Revolution - to encourage more South
Africans living abroad to return or to at least paint a more positive picture of
their country abroad. Their website generated 260 000 hits a month from homesick
experts, and a lively debate on the merits of living overseas. "The campaign is
for all South Africans - black, white, brown and pink," said founder Angel
Jones, who lived in Britain for seven years. "But we don't want to waste time
with racists, pessimists and moaners. They can stay where they are. "In March
2003 South Africa's white trade union Solidarity and the Company for Immigration
launched the "Come home campaign" - another private initiative aimed at bringing
back expatriates, and persuading people not to emigrate. Campaign advice manager
Alana Bailey says 100 families had returned with its help so far, and more were
planning to. Although official figures for returning citizens are impossible to
obtain, government data show that South Africa is attracting a growing number of
foreigners who are betting that the country is on the right track. The number of
new arrivals rose by 62 percent to 10 578 last year - half from the rest of
Africa, but more than a third from Europe and Britain.Elliots, one of the
country's oldest removal companies, says in 2003 it had 1 240 inbound clients
and 1 254 outbound - mainly foreigners but also locals returning home. "The
trend has changed - there are many more people coming into the country," said
Elliots chairperson

Swaziland
Rising number of HIV-positive truckers (Mbabane, Irin, 31/05)
- Swazi authorities and health workers have expressed concern over the rising
rate of HIV infection among the country's truck drivers. The landlocked southern
African country is heavily dependent on road transport and there are fears that
the spread of the virus could have a serious impact on the economy. According to
official statistics an estimated 38.6 percent of Swazis are living with the
virus, and the country's health ministry has included truckers among the
high-risk groups that are partly responsible for Swaziland's soaring HIV
prevalence rate. Two years ago prostitutes operating at border posts were
targeted by an aggressive HIV/AIDS awareness campaign aimed at encouraging them
to engage in safer sex practices, thereby also reducing the rates of infection
among truckers. But there have been no new initiatives to raise awareness among
sex workers or the trucking community since then. "We try to raise awareness
about AIDS as a preventable disease amongst our staff, but every company in the
manufacturing industry is feeling the effects of AIDS," Willie Stuart, the owner
of Speedy Overboarder, a freight forwarding service, told IRIN. Stuart's company
services Botswana and several South African cities from its Swaziland base. A
key obstacle to providing support to truckers who have tested HIV positive was
their fear of losing their employment if they disclosed their status in order to
obtain treatment. "If our drivers start calling in sick a lot, and they show up
thin and listless, we can guess what is ailing them," said the director of a
road freight firm. "Before, there was nothing we could do for them, but now we
can speak with a driver and urge him to take a blood test, because with that
test he would qualify to get ARVs [antiretrovirals]." Antiretroviral drug
therapy is available in an expanding rollout campaign coordinated by the
National Emergency Response Committee on HIV and AIDS (NERCHA).NERCHA director
and former finance minister Derek von Wissell told IRIN: "I get requests from
businesses all the time for information on how to enrol workers in ARV plans.
Employers are taking a more hands-on approach to their workers with AIDS. "IRIN
also spoke to some truck drivers. "I don't think truckers are any more likely to
get AIDS than anyone else - everybody can get AIDS. Anyway, I carry a condom,"
said one, who gave his name only as Amos. "I sleep in my cab, and I won't tell
you if I have sex in here, but I do have companions. Because of the truck engine
it is warm here on a winter night," explained another driver. The truckers said
they were aware of how HIV was transmitted, how safe sexual practices could
prevent infection, and most claimed that they carried condoms.

Swaziland in health brain drain talks (Swazi Observer, 29/05)
- Government, through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and supported by
the World Health Organisation (WHO), is engaged in massive historic talks with
one major developed country in an effort to get compensated for the migration of
nurses. Swaziland and many other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa is losing a
number of skilled nurses and other professionals to developed countries like
England. The talks follows a breakthrough in what was an intense debate in last
week's World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, where Africa and other
developing countries from South East Asia and Pacific Islands made a strong call
for compensation. Health Principal Secretary Dr. John Kunene, who attended the
meeting together with Health Minister, Chief Sipho Shongwe, stated that this
kind of uncontrolled recruitment of the scarce health professionals cannot be
allowed to go on any further. "There was a lot of resistance from the developed
North, hence it took us three days to finally come to a resolution. "Even though
the resolution did not have compensation, the principle reached was that country
to country level negotiations on compensation could be held. "I am pleased to
say that with the assistance of the WHO and the possible response we have
received from one developed country locally, we are engaged in positive talks
over compensation," Dr. Kunene disclosed in an interview. He said Africa felt
strongly that they should be compensated because they have invested resources in
the training of these professionals. Dr. Kunene said in order for Africa and
Swaziland in particular to produce more nurses, it should be compensated
adequately. "What is obvious is that there is no way we can prevent the
recruitment of these people, but whatever is done, should be done in a more
controlled order. "We are happy to state that the WHO director general has shown
a lot of support and is willing to assist developing countries come up with
strategies to retain their professionals and negotiate with these powerful
developed north," he stated. Dr. Kunene said already they have a committee
comprising the central agencies and the nurses association executive, which
looks into the pulling and pushing factors. He said though they have not been
able to meet frequently, they are now going to try and finalise their talks
which will give birth to a joint strategy to deal with the crisis. "In fact,
just yesterday, myself and the minister had met with the prime minister who
demanded a way forward on this matter. That paper to be presented to cabinet
will be an effort of all the partners involved in the matter, the nurses
included through their executive committee," he said. WHO country director Dr.
David Okello said they need to address the pulling and pushing factors. "What
must be understood is that some of these things are not solely in the hands of
the ministry of health, but there are other ministries responsible. Health is
not the employer, but the ministry of public service, while finance and economic
planning look into the issues of budget allocation. "Another problem is that the
agencies that do the recruiting are not known by their governments, that is to
say, these professionals are working in the private sector of these countries.
So when you call upon a particular government to compensate you, it becomes a
bit of a problem," he said. However, Dr. Okello said if nursing is a skill like
football is, then developed countries have to pay for it. "Football clubs based
in Europe pay handsomely for talent sourced here, and it is high time the other
professions do the same," Dr. Okello said. He said as a country, the fight
against HIV/Aids cannot be won if the work force is continuously going abroad.
"We can have the best facilities, but without the skilled personnel, all the
efforts to fight the pandemic will be useless," he said.

Cuba helps Swaziland with ten doctors (Lozitha, Angop, 15/04)
- Cuba is sending ten medical doctors to assist Swaziland deal with the health
crisis in the enclave African kingdom, according to Cuban Ambassador Esther
Armenteros. The Cuban government will pay the highly qualified medical
specialists and Swaziland would only have to provide housing and cater for
incidental expenses for the duration of their stay in the country, Armenteros
informed King Mswati III at Lozitha Palace Thursday when she presented her
letters of credence. The brigade of medical experts will be deployed to various
hospitals around the country, particularly in the rural areas. Armenteros
reminded the king of recent celebrations of the First Joint Commission for
Scientific, Economic and Technical Co- operation (FJCSETC) where bilateral
relations between the two countries were reviewed. Many areas of co-operation,
particularly education, health, human resources development and housing were
then identified, she cited. "In this spirit, Cuba has offered to provide a team
of Cuban doctors to work in Swaziland as they already do in more than 60
developing countries, mainly in Africa and Latin America. "I hope that one of my
first tasks as an Ambassador will be to finalised with the Ministry of Health of
the Kingdom of Swaziland the arrangements that would make possible the arrival
of the medical team as soon as possible," she said. "I wish to thank the people
of Cuba for their assistance over the years, particularly in the medical,
education and economic fields," King Mswati responded.

Nurses seek greener pastures (Mbabane, Irin, 12/05)
- Swaziland's nursing crisis is deepening as trained nurses leave the country
for better salaries abroad and the Swaziland Nursing Association renews a call
for strike action. Last month another 29 Swazi nurses left the country for
better paying jobs in the United Kingdom - a third of all nurses who graduate
each year. "At issue is respect for the nursing profession, and government needs
to work to retain nurses," the secretary general of the nurses' union, Thabsile
Dlamini, told IRIN. The union did not indicate when it intended to strike again.
Their demands include improved working conditions, provision of adequate medical
supplies to enable them to do their jobs, and security - some rural clinics have
had to close down because of numerous incidents of nurses being attacked, mugged
and raped. "We don't even have rubber gloves in the maternity wards, where HIV
prevalence is high. There is a lack of other basic equipment, and nurses have
not received AIDS training: how to treat it and how to avoid it," said Dlamini.
The nurses walked out on a two-week work stoppage in late February, after
government failed to deliver promised salary increments and back pay. The local
press attributed 60 deaths to the strike, caused by the lack of nursing staff at
government hospitals. "The strike was unnecessary, and it distracted [attention]
from the programmes we seek to launch this year on HIV/AIDS, malaria, pre-natal
care and other vital initiatives", Dr. John Kunene, principal secretary at the
ministry of health and social welfare, told IRIN. Although nurses have received
80 percent of their back pay, a new issue of unpaid overtime is simmering.
"Nurse's assistants [and] the orderlies are not paid overtime, so they knock off
work before evening - there is no one to help nurses turn patients, or do other
physical tasks at night," Dlamini said. Nurses also complain of low morale in
the profession. "Health care is seen as women's work, and this may be the
problem - women are paid less than men in any field," Dlamini remarked. AIDS has
also taken its toll on the profession, reducing the number of nurses by 10
percent, according to health ministry estimates. Swaziland has 3,000 nurses, of
which about 100 to 150 leave the profession each year, and the training of new
nurses has not kept pace - just 100 new nurses graduate annually from the two
main government hospitals in the capital, Mbabane, and the central commercial
town of Manzini. "You find that in some clinics there is only one nurse per
shift, or one nurse the entire day ... [sometimes there] is no nurse at all at
night", Dlamini explained. Health organisations note that if all Swaziland's
nurses depart, the government will have to spend more money recruiting
replacements from other countries. The authorities have already had to resort to
recruiting doctors, many of whom work in the country on contract from other
African nations.

Problems faced by Swazi in South Africa (Swazi Observer, 04/05)
- South African universities and colleges are now demanding that foreign
students should have medical aid cover before they can be admitted for study.
This is to ensure that their medical bills are not borne by the institutions or
the South African government as has always been the case. This was disclosed by
Mfundo Nkosi, who is an Information Technology student at the University of
South Africa (UNISA) in Pretoria.Nkosi made this remark before His Majesty King
Mswati III when he met Swazis residing, studying and working in South Africa
last week. The meeting was part of the King's four-day working visit to South
Africa, which included him attending the inauguration of Thabo Mbeki as
president of South Africa for the second time. The meeting held at the Pretoria
Country Club was attended by over 400 Swazis who included miners and
professionals working in South Africa. Narrating the problems they faced in
South Africa, Nkosi said this new prerequisite made life extra difficult for
students who came from not so rich families. He said this condition came into
effect last year, and parents had to dig deeper into their pockets if they
wanted to send their children to South African tertiary institutions. "Even
though Swazi medical aid cover was operational in South Africa, most of us
cannot afford it, and we plead that government provide students coming here on
her scholarships with a blanket medical aid cover, as without it they will no
longer be admitted to these institutions," Nkosi told the King. He added that
most students found themselves having to pay for their studies from their own
pockets while they had been assured of a government scholarship, and the
additional medical aid cover money meant they have to dig deeper into their
reserves. Responding to the students' concerns, the King stated that their
grievances were being addressed. He said the issues they had raised will be
closely looked at and hoped that members of his delegation would remind him of
the concerns when he returned home.

Probe into influx of foreigners (Lobamba, Swazi Observer, 03/05)
- Minister for Home Affairs Prince Gabheni has been called by Senate to
investigate circumstances leading to foreigners without Swazi citizenship
acquiring PI numbers (PIN) and national identity cards. Senators on Friday
decried that there were too many government documents, such as the passports and
lDs, which have fallen into wrong hands. This was during the debate of the
Performance Report of the Ministry of Home Affairs for the year 2003/2004.
Senator Ngom'yayona Gamedze implored the minister to clarify the qualities
required to enable a person to acquire a Swazi passport, travel document, a PIN
or a national identity card. He said he had information that people in other
countries preferred the Swazi passport more than any international passport,
mainly because of the country's peace and stability, as well as its good
diplomatic standing. "May the minister of Home Affairs explain how the nationals
fall into the hands of foreigners. One can be surprised that foreigners have PI
numbers, as well as the Swazi passports. This will enable even drug traffickers
to travel all over the world using the Swazi passport," warned Senator Gamedze
Senator Thuli Msane echoed Senator Gamedze's sentiments, saying the influx of
foreigners in the country was disturbing, to say the least. "Why did we stop
deporting the foreigners, especially the Mozambicans to their own countries?"
she queried. Senator Mbashayemahlatsi Magagula asked the Minister for Home
Affairs to revisit the Citizenship Act. He warned that foreigners will continue
to dominate in the country as they endlessly reproduce each other. The Minister,
Prince Gabheni will respond tomorrow.

Thousands return home from Tanzania UNHCR, 18/05)
- More than 40,700 Burundi refugees have returned home from camps in Tanzania so
far this year, bringing the number of Burundi refugees in Tanzanian camps to
below 300,000 for the first time in years. In total, 40,788 refugees have
returned this year, leaving just over 290,000 refugees still in the camps. The
last time the camp population was below 300,000 was in 1998. According to the
Tanzanian authorities, another 170,000 Burundians, most of whom left Burundi in
the early 1970’s, live outside the camps in settlements and some 300,000 have
settled on their own in villages. The vast majority of those returning this year
have come back on UNHCR-facilitated convoys, mainly through two border crossing
points - Gisuru crossing in the east and Kobero in the north. A third entry
point for facilitated returns is Gahumo, in Cankuzo province. A fourth entry
point for the facilitated returns is scheduled to open at Mugina in the southern
province of Makamba, possibly early in June. The opening of this crossing point
has faced some delays due to heavy rains which have slowed road repairs needed
to enable the convoys to travel. So far this year, we have also organized three
go-and-see visits to bring refugees from the camps to see for themselves what
the situation is like in their home areas and report back to their fellow
refugees. The most recent visit in early May brought ten refugees from Lukole
camps in Tanzania to visit their home communes in Kirundo province and meet with
relatives, neighbors and the administrative authorities. Upon their return to
the refugee camp in Ngara, the refugees were guests on Radio Kwizera in Ngara, a
radio station that broadcasts refugee programs in Tanzania. A fourth go-and-see
visit is planned for the end of May. Since we began facilitating returns to
Burundi in 2002, more than 176,000 refugees have returned home from camps in
Tanzania.

Tanzania orders Ugandans to leave (Mbarara, The Monitor, 17/05) -
Tanzania has ordered more than 1,000 Ugandans living along its border to leave
by May 17. Mbarara LC-V Secretary for Defence Capt. Steven Rwakanuuma said this
last Friday. He said the move came after the two countries disagreed on border
demarcations last year. The affected areas are Endinzi, Embale and Kashumba
villages on the Ugandan border side. Rwakanuuma said that both Uganda and
Tanzania have constitutions that state that the borderline is one degree south
of the equator. This puts the affected areas on the Uganda side but the East
African map left by the colonials shows that these areas are in Tanzania. He
said Tanzanian authorities have insisted on the East African map rather their
constitution and have written to the people living in these areas to vacate
before May 17. He said Tanzania intends to develop the area into government
ranches. Rwakanuuma said both Ugandan and Tanzanian officials agreed last year
to let the people in the affected areas stay until the border dispute is sorted
out. "The matter is now at a higher level (national). I have written to the
Permanent Secretary in the Lands ministry, Engineer Lubanga to handle the
matter," Rwakanuuma said.

Zambia
Immigration wing deports 37 Congolese (The Times of Zambia, 31/05)
- The immigration department has deported 37 Congolese prohibited immigrants
(PIs) under the programme to decongest prisons in Zambia.Immigration department
public relations officer Jones Mwelwa confirmed the deportation of the 37
Congolese in an interview in Lusaka yesterday adding that the Congolese were
deported through Kasumbalesa border post on Saturday. He said the Congolese were
escorted by immigration officers by road to their country stressing that the
programme to decongest prisons would continue. "While we are still waiting for
assistance from the Permanent Human Rights Commission who assisted us in terms
of tickets to deport West African prohibited immigrants, we will continue
decongesting the prisons by deporting prohibited immigrants from the
neighbouring countries," he said. And in a related development, the department
has arrested 10 Somalis for travelling using forged Kenyan passports. Mr Mwelwa
said the Somalis were arrested at Chirundu boarder post on their way to South
Africa. He said the Somalis were currently detained at Chimbokaila prison
pending prosecution. Meanwhile, the department has effected the charging of visa
fees on nationals from Angola, Ghana and Nigeria. Mr Mwelwa said the move to
charge nationals when obtaining visas should not be seen as though the
department was trying to frustrate foreign nationals."We have started charging
nationals from Angola, Ghana and Nigeria a fee when obtaining a visa which was
being done on reciprocal basis as we never used to charge before," he said.

Home Affairs requests help in repatriating migrants (Post of Zambia, 25/05)
- Home Affairs permanent secretary Peter Mumba has appealed to embassies in
Zambia to help government get rid of illegal immigrants from their countries.In
an interview last week, Mumba said the attitude of the embassies in Zambia was
very worrying because they were refusing to take responsibility for their
nationals in prisons, particularly those charged with illegal immigration.He
said the number of illegal immigrants was worrying and had contributed to the
congestion in Zambian prisons.He said the proportion of illegal immigrants was
very high in Zambian prisons."Government is spending a lot of money to feed
these people everyday and to look for air tickets to fly them out to their
respective countries," Mumba said.Mumba said Zambia was spending K300 million
per year in repatriating the illegal immigrants.Mumba said since government had
no money to repatriate the immigrants, they had remained in prisons for a long
time."It is sad that embassies have refused to take responsibility for their
nationals in prisons. It is now a heavy burden on government," Mumba said. "They
are refusing saying they don't know how they found themselves in Zambia."He has
since appealed to the embassies to be responsible for their nationals to lessen
the Zambian government's burden of sustaining and repatriating the illegal
immigrants.Mumba said if the embassies became involved there would be quick
deportations and thereby decongest Zambian prisons.And Mumba bemoaned poor
funding to prisons that had led to poor quality of food given to the inmates."I
now feed the prisoners on beans day in and day out. The money is not coming to
the 53 prisons. We are only given K300 million for all prisons," he said. "What
is K300 million to 53 prisons when the prisoners want to eat everyday?"Mumba
said all people were potential prison candidates and if the powers that be did
not improve the conditions in prisons, they should not complain themselves when
they would be put there someday.

UNHCR repatriates Angolan refugees in Zambia (Luena, Angop, 22/05)
- About 40.000 Angolan refugees living in the neighbouring Republic of Zambia
will be repatriated, as from next June 15th, by the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in the ambit of the voluntary repatriation
process.The decision has emerged from the fourth tripartite meeting of the
technical commission of both countries, held on May 19th-20th in Solwezi
province, Zambia, during which the delegations discussed and arranged the
operative proceedures for the start of the process.The Angolan refugees will be
transported by road and air by the International Migration Organisation (IMO),
from camps of Maheba, which shelters 18.000 citizens, Mayukwayukwa (12.000),
Nangweshi (8.000) and Ukwimi (2.000).Matters regarding the accommodation,
transport to their home areas, health and birth registry are in charge of the
Angolan authorities and their partners.With the reduction of food aid by the
World Food Programme (WFP) in Angola, UNHCR in Zambia guaranteed a three months
ration for these citizens.Concerning the improvement of roads, the both sides
committed themselves to rehabilitate 86 kilometres of the border route within
three weeks, before the start of the process.On the other hand, the Zambian
authorities are carrying out, from this Friday to the coming December, a
registry campaign of Angolan refugees who are not living in camps, in order to
repatriating them in the next operation.

Opinion on new border posts (The Times of Zambia, 20/05)
- The revelations by Home Affairs Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha that Government is
currently helping Angola set up border posts following the return of peace in
that country is most welcome. Angola was ravaged by a civil war for close to
three decades and most certainly needs a helping hand from experienced and
friendly neighbours such as Zambia. Through the new border posts linking
Zambians to towns across the border into Angola and vice-versa will come
increased trade between the two countries. But what is not welcome are the
reports that neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo has been erecting entry
and exit posts illegally, and without the knowledge of the Government of Zambia.
The DR Congo and Zambia have signed numerous technical agreements which include
the existence of a joint permanent commission that meets regularly to solve
disputes if any. Once in a while there are disputes that need urgent solutions
but more often than not, the commission is pre-occupied with developmental
matters and just how the two countries can benefit from each other through
increased trade. Under the existing charters and trade conventions, Zambia and
the DR Congo should have been miles ahead of several other countries in terms
trade and exchange programmes. But this would have only been possible if our
neighbours had little more regard for Zambia and its people as well as
international covenants. The two countries have been independent much longer
than most of their neighbours. And yet younger nations have been apt when it
comes to recognising international laws, charters and conventions. That is why
Zambia and the DR Congo must lead by example and show the younger republics how
to conduct themselves especially when it comes respecting international law. It
is therefore unfortunate that instead of marching forward, our leaders have been
expending time and resources settling unnecessary wrangles such as the illegal
borders posts said to have mushroomed at Lonshi and Kasumbalesa. Through these
illegal points, we have had criminals having a field day, smugglers pushing
banned substances and in the end we have not been taking stock of people moving
between the two countries. As we concur with General Shikapwasha's orders that
the illegal border posts be shut immediately, we also appeal to Zambia and the
DR Congo to emulate the world around us. Other neighbours have been busy
developing. They have joint operations fighting crime, terrorism, smuggling and
the ever increasing scourge of drug trafficking. This can only be possible if
there are entry and exit points recognised by countries sharing common borders.

Illegal DR Congo border shut (The Times of Zambia, 20/05)
- The Zambian Government has ordered the closure of an illegal border post put
up in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Home Affairs Minister,
Ronnie Shikapwasha announced yesterday that DR Congo officials had illegally
erected a border post about 60 km from Kasumbalesa without the Zambian
Government's knowledge. "Our colleagues put up a fully fledged border post where
they were stamping immigration documents granting entry to their nationals into
Zambia. "We have ordered them to close the post because this was not agreed in
the Joint Permanent Commission and have also set up camp in the area to monitor
their movements," he said. This was after Kabompo East member of Parliament
Lucas Chikoti (UPND), complained that a border post had been constructed by the
Congolese at Lonshi under irregular circumstances. Lieutenant General
Shikapwasha said Government was currently helping the Angolan government, set up
border posts following the return of peace in that country. Meanwhile, in an
interview, Gen Shikapwasha said the search for fugitives former intelligence
chief Xavier Chungu and former Zambian envoy to the US Attan Shanshonga had
continued. He said the British government had requested to try Shansonga in the
UK, for crimes relating to that country while the Zambian Government had also
approached the British government to have Shansonga brought back for trial.

Informal cross-border traders harassed (The Times of Zambia, 15/05)
- A sixty-nine-year-old widow wakes up on a bright Monday morning with a prayer
for strength to enable her to render emotional and physical support to her 11
grandchildren whose parents have died of HIV/AIDS-related diseases. Other than
providing the daily needs, Fridah Tembo (not real name) is overburdened with the
responsibility of securing the health and educational needs of the 11 children
with the eldest being 12 years old and the youngest four. When she lost her last
son, Ms Tembo was left with only K1,260,000 which remained in her late son's
bank account. That money was to help her take the children to school and even
provide for their material needs. Like any other person in today's biting
Zambian economy, Ms Tembo believed the amount of money in her hands could not
secure the needs of the children. She, however, made a radical decision to
invest the little financial resources into the informal sector by joining
small-scale cross border traders. Ms Tembo has since fitted in the trade for the
past four years and crosses into Zimbabwe every so often. She also buys
Coca-Cola drinks which she later resells in Livingstone. Like any other
small-scale trader, Ms Tembo does not only pay customs duty for the goods
imported from the neighbouring country but she also pays non-tariff barriers
affecting the development of the sector. Small-scale cross-border trade creates
employment and is one form of trade that holds hope for many Zambians to break
free from the shackles of poverty. Zambia would only address the sky-rocketing
unemployment levels once it identified the potential areas such as promoting
small-holder cross border trade. This could help create employment opportunities
for the people, whose majority are the women and youths. Despite her commitment
to earn a living out of trade, Ms Tembo laments that the cross-border trade is
almost becoming unbearable for most women because of the harassment suffered at
the hands of the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) customs officials at the border
points. The complaints of harassment such as confiscation of goods by customs
officials have become a regular refrain. The cries of small-holder cross-border
traders recently prompted Parliament to approve a motion that would enable
Government and other stakeholders to promote trade in the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) region. Opposition United Party for National
development (UPND) Livingstone member of Parliament Sakwiba Sikota, who moved a
motion, appealed to the House to encourage cross-border trade as an alternative
way for the unemployed people to earn a living. Mr Sikota, however, observed
that the prevailing situation at the borders in Zambia did not encourage
small-scale cross-border trade because the levels of harassment and torture of
traders by customs officials had reached alarming levels. He said that traders,
mostly women, were usually detained for long hours and had their goods
confiscated because of their failure to pay inflated customs duty by the ZRA
officials. "Small-scale traders are detained for long hours. This situation is
inhumane. The customs duty is deliberately inflated so that the traders who are
mostly women fail to pay, so their goods are confiscated," Mr Sikota said. "Some
times these officials charge as high as K9,000 duty on one can of Coca-Cola
which is sold at K6,000 at an expensive hotel like the Zambezi Sun," he noted.
It is time Government moved in and investigated the allegations regarding
customs officials exploiting the poor women, who are mostly widows working hard
to earn an honest living and help the nation address the effects of daunting
challenges of poverty and disease. "The customs officials sell the confiscated
merchandise in a secretive and non-transparent manner to some regular buyers,
some of whom are top Government officials and prominent businessmen in the
area," Mr Sikota charged. The MP appealed to the Government to protect the
almost 10,000 Livingstone residents who rely on the trade after suffering the
retrenchments that resulted from the shutdown of various industries in Zambia.
If the practice is left unchecked, it would negatively impact on the development
of tourism in the area as people would have little or no economic activities to
engage in, a situation that would spark an increase in crime in the tourist
capital. Therefore, these concerns call for urgent action from Government and
other stakeholders to look at the SADC protocols again to encourage people to
trade and promote equity in trade. The SADC Protocol on Trade and Cooperation,
which was signed in 1996, was instituted to establish a Free Trade Area (FTA) to
create opportunities and enhance cross-border investments among the member
states. The SADC member states effort, of which Zambia is part, that works to
enhance cross-border investment does not entail sidelining small-scale
entrepreneurs because it is important to the promotion of regional integration
and cooperation. Therefore, the reported harassment of cross-border traders in
Zambia should be condemned in the strongest terms because it would not only
affect the implementation of efforts to develop the country's economy but would
also affect the country's commitment to promoting regional integration. Former
Finance minister in the Chiluba government, Dr Katele Kalumba, observed in
Parliament that the SADC protocols on trade should be promoted because the
regional body was particularly founded on the principle that features that
impeded the free movement of people were removed. "In SADC there is no reason
why people should commit themselves to unjustified efforts of creating
restrictions instead of promoting trade through cooperation." However, Commerce,
Trade and Industry Minister Dipak Patel pledged Government's commitment to
investigating the alleged harassment and discrimination at border crossing
points in Livingstone and other border towns. Mr Patel acknowledged complaints
that there were discrepancies in the manner the customs duty was being charged
on imported goods by ZRA customs officials. The minister assured that he would
meet ZRA officials to discuss the reported harassment and the inflation on duty
so that immediate action could be taken against the erring officials. Finance
Minister Ng'andu Magande said that Government through his ministry is keen on
regional integration and, therefore, emphasised that perpetrators of corruption
and harassment at borders should be punished. Mr Magande said Zambia's economy
could not develop without the regional cooperation through such activities as
cross-border trading. Home Affairs Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha acknowledged that
Government was aware of what was pertaining in border areas and would ensure
that security is maintained to sustain cross-border trade. Parliament
unanimously approved the motion to promote the trade through the elimination of
non-tariff barriers. Cross-Border Traders Association (CBTA) chairman Misheck
Musonda hailed Parliament for recognising the traders who have been subjected to
inhuman treatment for a long time. Mr Musonda appealed to the small-scale
traders to support Government commitment to curbing harassment and corruption at
borders by ensuring that they conducted their businesses in a corruption-free
manner. The commitment exhibited, once translated into action, would help the
country develop key sectors of the economy and would make meaningful
contributions towards the promotion of cooperation and integration in the SADC
region.

Zambia to lease state farms to foreigners (Lusaka, Business Report, 12/05)
- Zambia was offering the first leases on government land to foreign and local
farmers, including some from Libya and Zimbabwe, as it tried to diversify the
economy, lands minister Judith Kapijimpanga said yesterday. An area of 100 000ha
in central Zambia would be ready for occupation this year, once roads were
constructed and power provided. The land is the first to be put up for lease
under a government policy to establish farms in all nine provinces of Zambia,
which has faced severe food shortages in the past.Kapijimpanga said Zambia hoped
to woo farmers who would grow cash crops for export as the country diversified
its economy from copper and cobalt mining to agriculture." We have demarcated
land into small-scale farms, semi-commercial and commercial farms. They measure
between 20ha and 10 000ha."Kapijimpanga said soil tests showed the land was good
for growing cash crops such as wheat, maize and tobacco. Foreign applicants for
land included the Libyan government, which wanted to start growing wheat for
export, she said." The Libyans approached us for land as they want to grow wheat
on a commercial scale and we are in serious discussions with them," Kapijimpanga
said.She said Zambia would welcome white Zimbabwean farmers who had fled their
country since the start of the seizure of white-owned farms there. White
Zimbabweans were already farming in Zambia on land leased from private owners.
"We have a number of [white] Zimbabwe farmers who have settled in the Mkushi
bloc [in central Zambia] ... they too are free to apply and [we] already have a
number of applications that are being processed," she said.Treasury data
indicate that only 3 million of Zambia's 45 million hectares of arable land are
used for farming, partly due to the fact that the impoverished country is thinly
populated with only 10 million people.

Zambians arrested in US visa scam (Lusaka, Angop, 11/05)
- Police have arrested about 30 Zambians for allegedly forging travel documents
to re-apply for United States visas after their initial applications were
rejected by the embassy here. Chrispin Kapela, acting spokesperson for the
Zambia Police, said Monday that the 30 were, however, released on police bond
pending full investigation into the matter, after which they could face court
trial. Police pounced on the suspects after alert US embassy officials
recognised the face of a 38-year-old Zambian woman whose first application for a
visa was rejected by the embassy. The woman had allegedly obtained another
Zambian passport with a different name and other personal data, but when the
passport was screened at the US embassy the image was same as that on an
application earlier rejected. The woman was subsequently invited to the embassy
for interviews and information she provided helped the US embassy screen all
other applications afresh, leading to the batch of suspects. They were then
invited by the embassy "to pick up their visas", only to fall in the dragnet of
the Zambia security network of police detectives, immigration and
Anti-Corruption Commission agents, Kapela said. Since the US government
tightened entry visa requirements after the infamous 11 September 2001 terrorist
attacks, crowds of prospective Zambian travellers gather daily outside the
fortified embassy complex here.

Zimbabwe
Health ministry moves to bond all professionals beginning next year (The
Zimbabwe Herald, 30/05) - Bonding, adopted by Government
last year to arrest the crippling exodus of nurses, will from next year be
extended to all professionals in the health sector, the Minister of Health and
Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa, has said. He said the move was part of
efforts being pursued by his ministry to improve the country's health system,
which has been beset by a shortage of skilled personnel, most of whom are
leaving for other countries. The minister was speaking at the graduation of 99
nurses in Masvingo recently. The bonding of health professionals trained by
Government would see them being obliged to work in the country for a stipulated
period before they are free to resign. Dr Parirenyatwa said it was saddening to
note that the country has become a nursery of health professionals for other
countries. "We have been bonding nurses only in the past, but from next year all
other health professionals will be bonded because we cannot continue to train
professionals for others. We will also continue to review the working conditions
of health professionals as part of our efforts to make sure that they are not
tempted to leave for other countries," he said. Dr Parirenyatwa exhorted nurses
to stay in the country, saying that it was disturbing to note that some locally
trained nurses were relegating themselves to doing menial jobs in countries like
Britain. He added that Government had introduced the primary care nurse's course
as an innovative measure to train nurses who were in high demand in developed
countries as was the case with state registered nurses. The establishment of the
Health Service Commission, Cde Parirenyatwa said, was going to usher in a new
epoch for health professionals in the country as their problems would be
expeditiously attended to. The creation of the Health Services Commission, which
is still awaiting Parliamentary approval, will see health professionals being
removed from the Public Service Commission under which all civil servants fall.
The country's health delivery system has been teetering on the verge of collapse
for the past few years arising from the massive exodus of skilled manpower
prompted by concerns over working and living conditions.

RBZ foray into America to repatriate diaspora funds (Sunday Mirror, 30/05)
- Zimbabweans in the United States of America have welcomed the central bank's
recent establishment of the new money transfer system that transfers funds to
recipients in the country saying they were keen on contributing to the country's
economic development. A Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe team on Wednesday this week met
with Zimbabweans in Dallas, Texas where many Zimbabweans are based." Some went
further and asked whether the Reserve Bank could not look into the possibility
of some of them establishing money transfer agencies in America to deal with
money transfer agencies in Zimbabwe rather than people having to pay high rates
of commission to a major international money transfer agency in the United
States, " The RBZ said in a statement. Western Union, one of the oldest and most
well known money transfer agencies in the world, is the only money transfer
agency through which Zimbabweans in America can send back their money. In a
recent study conducted by the central bank advisory board, it is understood that
an estimated 3.4 million Zimbabweans are scattered across the globe. Of that
figure, an estimated 1.1 million Zimbabweans are known to be residing in the
United States alone. Some locals have been residing in the US for over nine
years." The Reserve Bank is team is visiting the United states on the first leg
of a mission to make Zimbabwean living abroad aware of the new system the
central bank has put in place for their convenience to facilitate the sending of
funds back home," the central bank said. Herbert Nkala, the Rainbow Tourism
group chief executive officer and chairman of the publicity sub-committee of the
central banks foreign exchange advisory board is leading the RBZ team in
America. The new system, called Homelink, was introduced last month to formalise
and regulate the repatriation of foreign currency by Zimbabweans in the
Diaspora. Prior to that, most Zimbabweans used unofficial channels, largely the
blackmarket, to send money home since the black market rate offered much higher
exchange rates than the unattractive official exchange rate that was offering a
paltry $824 to the greenback. Since then, the unofficial black market has been
dealt a deathblow because the new system now authorises money transfer agencies
to payout funds at the auction rate of $5 200 or the Diaspora rate, whichever
might be higher. Currently, more than 15 money transfer agencies have since been
registered with the central bank and they all operate under the Homelink system.
Further, money sent to Zimbabwe through the Homelink channels can be paid to
recipients in foreign exchange or local currency. Currently the auction rate is
at around $5 300.Lovemore Chihota, another advisory board member and a
businessman in the tourism sector is part of the RBZ delegation in America.
Despite the Gideon Gono led economic revival, particularly his endeavour to
repatriate funds from locals in the Diaspora, he has been receiving some flak
especially by other Zimbabweans in the Diaspora." Participants were eager to
hear how the country's economic reforms were going. Although some of them had
lived in Dallas for as long as nine years, they all clearly saw Zimbabwe as home
and wanted to see it succeed, "the RBZ said. One of the main arguments used by
critics is that the 3.4 million locals that are living and working abroad were
driven by the government's political and economic crisis. They argue that
government is to blame for the current situation that accounts for close to a
quarter of the government's entire population. But the central bank of late has
said that all Zimbabweans, both local and abroad, can collectively take part in
efforts to resuscitate the country's economy. The continued inflow of foreign
currency from the significant number of Zimbabweans abroad is also expected to
impact positively on the country's productive sectors that rely heavily on the
availability of foreign currency. Most of the country's major companies in the
manufacturing and import sectors were receiving the brunt of the shortages that
threatened to topple the country over the precarious edge of economic ruin. The
central bank delegation is currently taking part in the annual ZimExpo 2004 in
Atlanta, Georgia. The ZimExpo business event, in its second year, is organised
by a local company, ZimExpo Business Consortium that facilitates and networks
Zimbabweans living abroad who are keen on doing business in Zimbabwe. The
two-day event that started this Friday is ending today and it is expected to
pool more foreign currency back into Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe to harness foreign exchange from citizens abroad (Harare, Angop, 29/05)
- The central bank in Zimbabwe Wednesday launched a campaign to attract foreign
currency remittances from an estimated 3.5 million nationals working abroad. The
Reserve Bank launched a HomeLink money transfer service dedicated to Zimbabweans
in the Diaspora, whom it said could be an important source of foreign currency
for the country. Bank officials also said they were launching road shows in the
US and other countries to lure Zimbabweans to remit their earnings back home
through official channels, to undercut the black market which until now reaps
the bulk of inflows. The southern African country is facing a critical shortage
of foreign currency because of Low export earnings, and sanctions imposed on
Zimbabwe by powerful western donors in protest at its land policies. Under the
HomeLink scheme, Zimbabweans in the Diaspora are offered a special exchange rate
to entice them away from the black market to the official one. Central bank
officials said since the scheme was launched three weeks ago, over 10 million US
dollars had been remitted to the country by Zimbabweans abroad. The bank expects
monthly remittances of USD100 million when the scheme is fully established.

UK based group launches campaign against Reserve Bank (The Zimbabwe Herald, 28/05)
- A UK-based anti-Zimbabwe group has launched a rabid campaign on the Internet
and the British House of Lords to derail the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's
international outreach to regularise foreign currency remittances to the country
by Zimbabweans living in the Diaspora. An article written by Mduduzi Mathuthu
posted on the newzimbabwe.com website alleged that central bank governor Dr
Gideon Gono slipped into London on private business on Tuesday and was expected
to stay there until Friday (today). However, the governor was nowhere near
London as he was meeting with African Export and Import Bank officials in Cairo,
Egypt, on Tuesday and Wednesday before being joined by President Mugabe to
solicit support for Zimbabwe's agriculture and mining sectors. The Zimbabwean
delegation returned home on Wednesday evening. Mathuthu, a former Zimbabwe
Independent reporter now based in the UK, wrote that outraged British MPs were
set to review the list of senior Zimbabwe Government officials banned from
travelling throughout the European Union after Dr Gono's imagined visit. "Since
Gono was appointed Reserve Bank governor last November, the EU sanctions list
has not been reviewed. "Embarrassed British Foreign Office officials said: 'It's
a private visit. It's certainly nothing to do with us. We are not meeting him."
"In the House of Lords," wrote Mathuthu, "Baroness Amos, responding to questions
from peers who suggested Gono was on a mission to raise funds for Zanu-PF's
re-election campaign also stressed that the Government's hands were tied on the
issue." Mathuthu alleged that President Mugabe's opponents were already planning
to make it an uncomfortable visit for Dr Gono with unspecified protests, as he
claimed that the governor was "trying to raise money for Zanu-PF's re-election
campaign". Contacted for comment in Harare yesterday, Dr Gono said: "When I go
to the UK it will be on a mission to promote the formalisation of funds
transfers into Zimbabwe by our brothers and sisters in not only that country but
other parts of the world. "Those of us charged with the responsibility to
superintend financial systems in our backyards have a duty to ensure that funds
that flow into our system do so in as transparent and accountable manner as
possible. "Some of us cannot forget the horrors of September 11 which have
changed the whole face of this world and that horror was in part financed by
funds which were moving in and out of world financial markets without close
scrutiny or accountability." He said: "Under the prevention of terrorism
finance, as governor of the central bank I have an obligation to urge
Zimbabweans living outside the country to use safe, transparent and accountable
channels for funds transfers as our collective fight against opaque financial
systems which tomorrow can be used against humanity through money laundering and
other terrorist activities." He said if Mathuthu could regard such a mission as
counterfeit by choosing to lie about "why I would be visiting the United Kingdom
or any other part of the world then he ought to be seen for what he stands for."
"His (Mathuthu) hatred for the governor should not be allowed to cloud the noble
mission that is founded on international responsibility towards clean financial
systems in one's backyard." Dr Gono said he last visited the United Kingdom in
September last year.

Weary Zimbabweans seek better life (Mail & Guardian, 19/05)
- The bus driver from Bulawayo grins and shrugs in typically Zimbabwean fashion
as he explains the difficulties of feeding his family and keeping his five
children in school. But he insists: "I am going to see the problems through to
the end. Nothing lasts for ever." The driver, Never, plies the busy route
between Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, and Francistown, Botswana, ferrying
droves of Zimbabweans trying to find work in the neighbouring country. Amid the
busy cross-border traffic, he leans against his 12-seater van, which sits in the
no man's land straddling the border. "I am out of fuel. Fuel is short again in
Zimbabwe, can you imagine? So these women are walking across the border with
these chigubus (20-litre plastic containers) to get diesel in Botswana and bring
it back so we can drive all the way to Francistown." He chuckles at the
absurdity of the situation. As we talk he remembers my expulsion from Zimbabwe.
"They put you in jail, put you on trial. And when you were found innocent they
threw you out of the country anyway. Don't worry, [information minister
Jonathan] Moyo and [President Robert] Mugabe can't last for ever. We will get
over our troubles and you will be able to come back." Two Zimbabwean border
guards toting automatic rifles approach through the tall grass and begin
climbing through the rows of barbed-wire fences. They shout at the young women
carrying the fuel containers and motion with their guns for them to come back
for questioning. "You better go now," says Never. "These guys could give you
trouble. These days they do what they like. They can be rough." Through the
field, past four barbed-wire fences, stands a much taller fence. It is the
electrified fence that the Botswana government erected two years ago, ostensibly
to keep Zimbabwean cattle from straying into Botswana, but really to keep
Zimbabweans from flooding into the country. Stable and prosperous, Botswana is
struggling to cope with the effects of Zimbabwe's deepening economic and
humanitarian crisis. Each month, according to immigration authorities, its
population of 1,7-million is swollen by an estimated 127 000 Zimbabweans, most
of them illegal immigrants, seeking work, food and refuge. In the year since I
was forced to leave the country, the situation in Zimbabwe has worsened in every
respect. More people are going hungry, with nearly two-thirds of the population
reliant upon international food aid in recent months. State brutality has become
more systematic and more widespread. Thousands of young Zimbabweans have been
trained in torture at the militia camps and are inflicting their skills on the
population, particularly anyone suspected of supporting the opposition party,
the Movement for Democratic Change. The state repression against the independent
press has increased. The Mugabe government closed The Daily News, the country's
most popular paper, with a million readers. Other newspapers have been
threatened with closure and 75 journalists have been arrested. "Things are bad,
really, really tough," says Thabani (34) whose smile shows two teeth missing.
Speaking at the Botswana border post, he says: "I am a bus inspector in
Zimbabwe. But the money is too small. I can't pay rent or buy food. Here the
money has power. I will take any job here, a labourer, a cleaner, a security
guard, anything. Whatever money I make will go much further." Zimbabwe's ongoing
economic meltdown is evident from the black-market traders waving sheaves of the
country's rapidly depreciating currency. They offer 1 000 Zimbabwe dollars to
one Botswana pula, which just a few years ago traded one for one. One US dollar
fetches Z$6 000. But a loaf of bread costs nearly Z$3 000. A Zimbabwean man
drives a battered truck with a load of folding wooden chairs which he hopes to
sell in Botswana. A young woman in a straw hat tearfully pleads with the border
guards to allow her into Botswana, but she does not have the 100 pula required
to enter so is turned back. "There are so many Zimbabweans who go from house to
house looking for any kind of work. They will work for food or for a T-shirt,"
says Dorcas Bogatsu, a secretary in Francistown. "And they are well educated.
Their English is good. It is very sad. Zimbabwe used to be a rich country." In
the chilly nights, Zimbabweans with no place to sleep huddle together around
small fires at the Francistown bus station. "When I find work I'll send money
back to my family," says Prosper, who says he once worked as a schoolteacher but
was threatened by Zimbabwe's secret police. Along Blue Jacket Street,
Francistown's main drag, young Zimbabwean women cluster at street corners and
wave at passing cars. Zimbabwean sex workers now outnumber local prostitutes and
the competition has driven down prices. Ordinarily Francistown is a placid
little border town, but the scenes, the stories and the desperation of the
Zimbabweans make the locals feel as if they are living next to a volcano. No
electric fence can keep that unease away.

Foreigners in their own land (The East African Standard, 17/05) -
Ian King who owns a 320-hectare farm lives in
fear. He is oblivious of what tomorrow holds for him, the nights, he says are
even more dreadful. Ian, a third generation white farmer lives on a land he
inherited from his father. He cannot tell whether he will be the next victim to
be forced out of the land alive or dead. "I live in fear, fearing for my life,
fearing that my lifetime investment could be gone in minutes. In this district,
out of 63 farmers, only three remained," he said. Ian got a Zimbabwean partner
last June who has settled on part of his farm to do commercial farming. His
parents had lived in Mazowe District since 1952 developing the land into one of
the most productive commercial farms in Zimbabwe. Ian employees over 300
Zimbabwe natives who work on his flower farms. He exports two to three million
stems of rose flowers to the European market and produces some 300 metric tones
of maize per harvest. He also rears over 50 cows. Ian's story represents the
plight of the remaining white farmers living under the mercy of President Robert
Mugabe since after the forceful invasion of white-owned farms in 2000. The
President's declaration last week that the land acquisition programme has moved
a notch higher-to what will soon be a major take-over of chunks of commercial
farms -classified as A2 land-and those owned by multi-nationals from white
farmers is worrying. No doubt the land acquisition programme was vital but the
method used was haphazard. The way it was done has hurt the economy in a major
way because the new farmers have no inputs and most of those allocated the land
were not farmers. They are either politicians from the city or militiamen. It is
therefore difficult for the new farmers to contain sustainability in these farms
because farming needs skills a lot of efforts. "White farmers, once a vital
factor in Zimbabwe's growing economy are moving away to Zambia and Nigeria where
they are given land for commercial use," says a bitter Ian. Others have moved to
neighbouring Mozambique and Namibia. Ian believes that the invasion of the farms
was used as a political rhetoric to bring back Mugabe to power in the 2000
General Election. Ian says production has not been sustainable as a result of
the invasion. He denies that those in the manufacturing industry were sabotaging
the economy. "That is an excuse, there is no money, commercial farmers cannot
borrow from banks due to stagnating production and most of the new farmers are
growing sugar beans which is not viable. "At the same time, the new farmers have
no equipment and for those who were lucky to get them on the farms after chasing
the white farmers, they still cannot repair the equipment," he said. About his
new partner, Ian says they are trying to work saying it is hard to trust
somebody who wants a share of your 30-year investment. "We are still working on
the modalities with him to see how we can be partners because there is no two
way about it, the government's decision is final," he adds. "I have nowhere to
go, though even here, my security is not guaranteed," he says. Ian says after
the invasion, milk production dropped from 240 million litres per year to
between 120-140 million litres. "Before, there were 55,000 cows in production
but currently there are only about 25,000 cows," he says. The farmers have
continued to receive quit notices. From about 4,500 white farmers who owned more
than half of land in Zimbabwe, only less than 400 of them remain now.
Forty-seven-year-old Zimbabwean farmer Mr Richard Bvukumbwe has been re-settled
on a 1,800-hectare piece of land formerly owned by a white farmer. He grows
tobacco, sugar beans, commercial maize, and seed maize and rears cattle too.
Bvukumbwe was lucky to be settled on a farm with a completely furnished farm
house, a swimming pool and a beautiful environment with security lights. In the
compound, some of the equipment was grounded. The swimming pool has dried up and
some of the security lights are not working. Most of the granaries are worn out
probably due to lack proper maintenance. Bvukumbwe has no regrets or apologies
to make about the invasions. "Total liberation for Africa means being in control
of your country including land. "We have no beaches, we boast of our land
without which we are not independent," he said. Bvukumbwe believes that it is
the British who sparked off the fight because it had refused to compensate its
brothers and sisters who were occupying land. "We could not tamper with the
constitution for 10 years and when we got the opportunity, we tampered with it
to fight for our right to land and that we have done and won," he says.
Bvukumbwe says the invasions and the right for Zimbabweans was not meant to
impress anybody else apart from the indigenous Zimbabwean.

Smuggling syndicates cheat customs (Zimbabwe Independent, 14/05)
- The government could be losing millions of dollars daily as goods continue to
illegally enter or leave Zimbabwe through the Nyamapanda border post under the
nose of Customs officials who sometimes appear to be part of the smuggling
syndicates, the Zimbabwe Independent can reveal. Smuggling of food stuffs such
as sugar, margarine, powdered milk and mealie-meal out of the country is rampant
at the border post for destinations in Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania. The
Customs officials are allegedly also bribed by those wishing to bring goods into
the country without paying duty. The goods brought into Zimbabwe are mainly
electric gadgets and clothing from Asian countries. When the Independent visited
Nyamapanda border post last week, long queues of vehicular traffic could be
observed the whole day on both sides of the entry point. Most prominent were
haulage trucks, which are allegedly used to smuggle goods in and out of the
country. A truck driver, unaware that he was talking to a journalist, said: "Oh
yes, it is common knowledge that a gonyeti (haulage truck) driver makes millions
on every trip by ferrying goods into or out of the country without declaring
(filling in Customs declaration forms). There are established networks that
involve Customs officials." Talking to Customs officials proved more difficult
as most of them are suspicious of strangers and only interact with "well-known"
connections. The Independent established that Customs officials now scramble to
be stationed at Nyamapanda border post. "On a good day a Customs official can
make up to $1 million in addition to gadgets such as VCRs, DVDs and cellphones,"
said a trader during a conversation. A man from Harare, who had spent two days
at the border post waiting for a truck in which his ton of sugar was stashed to
be cleared, was confident he would make it to the Mozambican capital, Maputo
where his clients were waiting. "I have been assured (by Customs officials) that
today we will cross (the border) and I will be back tomorrow. My clients are
waiting for me in Maputo ready with the US dollars," he said. The man expected
to quickly come back to Harare where he said he would pick up a consignment of
rice, which he intended to smuggle into Mozambique.

Zimbabwean diaspora remits funds (Zimbabwe Independent, 14/05)
- Zimbabweans living abroad say before they can channel funds to their
motherland President Robert Mugabe must quit and a new government takes over.
This emerged in an informal survey of senior businesspersons conducted by
leading bankers on business opinions and problems in Zimbabwe as well as how to
attract foreign currency from those in the diaspora. The survey, known as "The
market barometer - Snap survey of issues affecting business", was distributed to
business executives including Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono, at
a foreign currency conference in Harare on Tuesday last week. Economic
commentator and consultant Eric Bloch is in charge of the RBZ team set up to
harness foreign currency from locals in the diaspora. Despite the negative
political sentiments however, in just two days last week, US$1,7 million had
gone into the RBZ coffers from Zimbabweans abroad. Bloch says although numbers
could not be established with absolute authority, on the basis of diverse and
informed sources, it was established that there are approximately 3,4 million
Zimbabweans in the diaspora for various reasons. He said of these 1,1 million
are in the United Kingdom, 1,2 million in South Africa, 450 000 in southern
African countries, 200 000 in the United States and Canada, 300 000 in mainland
Europe and 150 000 in Australia and New Zealand. Human Resources (Pvt) Ltd
chairman David Harrison, whose company carries out research for top companies
and government, says Zimbabwe has already lost close to 60% of its accountants
to the diaspora. He said the reasons varied from low remuneration, job
dissatisfaction, failure to command high standards of living in Zimbabwe and
political uncertainty. Departing from the written presentation, Stanbic Bank of
Zimbabwe Ltd (Stanbic) head of the Treasury department Weston Makwara, said
Zimbabweans living abroad regularly asked when President Mugabe will go.
President Mugabe says he won the last election and therefore is "democratically"
allowed to see his term of office through. The term ends in 2008 but speculation
is rife that he could step down earlier. Makwara said when compiling the data it
was also discovered that Zimbabweans living abroad were generally unhappy with
the present government and its policies and most of them had left the country
because they were being frustrated in their efforts to contribute positively to
the country's success. The locals abroad said they felt even more isolated after
being refused the vote in parliamentary and presidential elections. Those who
have departed for the diaspora include doctors, nurses, teachers, accountants
and commercial farmers. Followed up on the issue Bloch said there were a few
"rabble rousers" in the diaspora who "spoke louder than everybody else". "We
have just received US$1,7 million from serious Zimbabweans living in the
diaspora and the money is coming in ever since we began tapping it from them,"
Bloch told business digest in an interview. "Some of those individuals making
those statements either had failed in Zimbabwe, or are just rabble rousers
trying to throw a spanner into the works of our programme. I would not take
those sentiments seriously and representing the majority of those in the
diaspora. "Makwara said the survey's key conclusions were that industry needed
to take advantage of the RBZ's open door policy to submit contributions to help
the governor. "They need to work together, not so much being seen together, but
mutually supporting each other," he said. "Free enterprise needs to continue to
have free rein and to flourish. "According to the survey, issues that affected
business in Zimbabwe in 2003 prior to Gono's monetary policy statement included
runaway inflation, inaccessibility of foreign currency, rising and ultimately
very high interest rates, and cost containment challenges. He said any set of
financial statements was witness to this. Makwara said current issues were that
there was a very predictable way of allocating foreign currency but not enough
available. He said the survey had discovered that interest rates seemed stable
allowing some semblance of planning while the extension of productive sector
validity had been hailed. "We need the demand, goods are there but there is no
demand," he said.He said market perception about Zimbabwe were factors such as
is inflation now under control vis money supply issues and the impact this would
have on the wage bill.Zimbabwe's month-on-month inflation that averaged around
18% last year, and reached a peak of 33% in November, slowed down to 13,7% in
January, 6% in February and 5,9% in March. The country's year-on-year inflation,
according to the RBZ, has declined from a high of 622% in January this year to
the current 583%. However prices of basic commodities such as bread, sugar and
milk continue to soar. So have those for electricity, water and fuel. Makwara
said investors also querried would the exchange rate be managed in relation to
major trade partners' figures and the projected impact this would have on
inputs, as well as the fact that in the absence of donor support would Zimbabwe
be able to have a stable exchange rate? He said the survey had also raised
issues such as could dampened local demand coupled with the auction rate drive
exports and bring in much-needed foreign currency, as well as were the diaspora
initiatives a step in the right direction? He said investors were worried about
the tourism industry and declining agriculture figures. "No matter what may be
one's political perspective, almost all who live in Zimbabwe and a very great
number of people outside this country, do not wish the already gravely
devastated, deeply distressed economy to be totally destroyed," Bloch said.
"They may wish for major political changes, as I very much do, but they do not
wish to achieve it by intensifying poverty, misery, malnutrition, ill health and
death for millions and millions of innocent people, and for children, the aged,
the infirm and the disabled, in particular. Moreover, they wish that when the
eventual political changes occur, which I firmly believe will happen, there
should still be an economic foundation and framework - no matter how fragile -
on which to rebuild and carry this country forward to the prosperity and
well-being that it greatly needs and deserves. "He said if only 10% of
Zimbabweans abroad avail themselves of the new structures, to an extent of as
little as US$100 a month, the country would access US$34 million monthly. "That
alone would suffice to meet all Zimbabwe's fuel importation costs," Bloch said.

Botswana lashing custom archaic, barbaric, says Mugwadi (The Zimbabwe Herald, 11/05)
- A Zimbabwean delegation from the Department of lmmigration, which was in
Botswana recently to discuss the alleged ill-treatment of Zimbabweans in that
country, has described the Botswana custom of lashing foreigners as "archaic and
barbaric". The Chief Immigration Officer, Mr Elasto Mugwadi, said Botswana
officials had maintained that they could not change the law unless the citizens
of the country wanted those laws done away with. "We were informed that corporal
punishment enjoyed the support of the nationals who would not understand its
removal under any guise," Mr Mugwadi said. "Although Botswana immigration
officials indicated they cannot change their custom, we informed them that their
custom is archaic and barbaric. We feel it is unfair to punish foreigners who do
not pay allegiance to that custom. This is the reason why we have international
laws." Mr Mugwadi said his department carried out a survey which revealed that
at least 90 000 Batswana nationals visit Zimbabwe every month to do their
shopping but are not forced to follow any of Zimbabwe's customs. "If they break
the laws of this country we use the international laws observed internationally
to punish them. We do not drag them to our traditional leaders," Mr Mugwadi
said. He said his department suggested that any Zimbabwean caught breaking the
law in Botswana, should be given an option to pay a fine, be immediately
deported or sent to prison. "But from the investigations we carried out, we
discovered that when Zimbabweans are legally or illegally arrested their money
is taken away from them and, therefore, cannot pay fines. They are left with no
choice but to be lashed naked before they are deported." Although the matter of
lashing of Zimbabweans was raised at the last Botswana-Zimbabwe Permanent
Commission on Defence and Security meeting held in Kasane last October, it was
noted that corporal punishment remained in the statutes of Botswana as part of
its national legal code. Mr Mugwadi said they indicated that there were fears
that the retention of corporal punishment could induce xenophobic attitudes in
the minds of the public. "We were informed that the issue was now being dealt
with at the political level, which is a higher level than the one that has been
handling the matter," Mr Mugwadi said. He said they had agreed that police
officers from both countries should carry out joint patrols along the border
following allegations that some Botswana police officers were usually seen
battering Zimbabweans they accused of entering Botswana illegally. He said they
also discussed the repatriation of bodies of Zimbabweans who would have died in
Botswana. "Our counterparts said they would help out in such cases because we
felt no normal person could make a false claim for a dead body. There is no
reason why there should be hassles in the repatriation of bodies," Mr Mugwadi
said.

Zimbabwe slams treatment of nationals in Botswana (Harare, Sapa-AFP, 11/05)
- Zimbabwe has condemned the "barbaric" use of corporal punishment by
neighbouring Botswana against Zimbabweans caught on the wrong side of the law in
their country, a newspaper said on Tuesday. Relations between Zimbabwe and its
western neighbour have been strained in recent years after regular reports that
Zimbabweans are harassed, flogged or attacked while in Botswana. Zimbabwe's
chief immigration officer Elasto Mugwadi told the state-run Herald after a
recent visit to Botswana that the country's use of corporal punishment against
Zimbabweans was unfair. "Although Botswana immigration officials indicated they
cannot change their custom, we informed them that their custom is archaic and
barbaric," said Mugwadi. In April Botswana dismissed the media reports as
hostile and distorted. In January Zimbabwe's ambassador to Botswana was asked to
investigate reports that 100 Zimbabweans were flogged for illegally entering
Botswana. An estimated 125 000 Zimbabweans who have been flooding into Botswana
every month to escape economic problems at home have been blamed for an upswing
in crime in that country. Mugwadi said that Zimbabweans who break the law in
Botswana should pay a fine, be deported or be sent to prison. However, he
claimed Zimbabweans arrested in Botswana have their money confiscated and are
beaten. "They are left with no choice but to be lashed naked before they are
deported," he told The Herald.

Nigerians woo Zimbabwean farmers (BBC News, 10/05)-Zimbabwean
farmers could start growing crops in Nigeria within three months after a recent
visit. A spokesman told the BBC that the land they had seen in Kwara state was
very fertile and they said they would be training local subsistence farmers. The
farmers are among those whose land was taken by the Zimbabwe government for
redistribution to blacks. Nigeria's farms have been neglected since oil was
discovered 40 years ago. One of the farmers, Alan Jack, told the BBC's Network
Africa programme that 60% of the land they had seen was virgin, while 40% had
been cultivated in the past. He said local chiefs and elders were keen on the
farmers going because they would bring jobs, electricity and roads. At least 67
people were killed last week in clashes over land between farmers and
cattle-herders in other parts of central Nigeria. The farmers are concerned
about the lack of infrastructure and Nigeria's reputation for corruption. But
Kwara state is optimistic that the men will agree to the project. "I think the
few farmers that have visited will spread the good news that there is arable
land here," said Nigel Crompton, a local official. President Obasanjo has backed
the project Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has also given his support for
the project, saying Nigeria was "anxious to benefit from their expertise and
experience". The farmers would find their stay in Nigeria "rewarding and
exciting," he added when the group visited the capital Abuja. But Nigeria is not
the only offer the farmers have had. Mr Jack said they had also received
overtures from Mozambique, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Operators express outrage at Xenophobic attacks (The Chronicle, 07/05)
- Cross border transport operators whose buses were extensively damaged after an
attack by Batswana nationals during a riot in Gaborone yesterday expressed
outrage over the unwarranted and “senseless” incident and called on the Botswana
government to bring the culprits to book. In interviews with Chronicle in
Bulawayo, the operators said the xenophobic attacks were uncalled for as their
buses were operating within the confines of the Botswana laws. They said the
attacks had put the lives of hundreds of passengers in danger as Batswana went
on the rampage and indiscriminately stoned any Zimbabwean bus at the Gaborone
rank. Zimbabwean cross border traders and shoppers aboard the Zimbabwean bound
buses also lost thousands of dollars worth of wares and goods in the ensuing
confusion which followed the riot.Some Batswana reportedly went on a
looting spree as Zimbabweans scurried for cover and fled from their attackers.
The owner of Zebulon Express, Mr Richard Maplanka, said one of his buses had all
its windows smashed. “The bus is still in Botswana and we are trying to find
ways of getting it fixed so that the passengers can be brought back home. It is
sad that we cannot tolerate each other as African brothers and we are at a loss
as to why we were targeted,” he said. Mr Maplanka said it was unfortunate that
passengers who were in Botswana legally had to endure untold suffering. “I think
this thing should stop. Our governments (Botswana and Zimbabwe) should sit down
and sort out this problem before it gets out of hand,” he said. Another
transport operator, who declined to be identified for fear of reprisals from the
Botswana authorities, said he had to scurry for cover and flee from angry
passengers who had lost all their belongings during the riot in Botswana. His
bus, which had extensive damages to the windscreen and windows, arrived in
Bulawayo yesterday morning and immediately proceeded to Harare. “They
(passengers) lost everything and I can understand their anger. But I am not to
blame. I am also a loser here. I have to incur the costs of repairs,” he said.
He said it was disheartening that innocent people were being victimised. “The
problem with Batswana is that they paint every Zimbabwean with the same brush
and assume anyone from this country is a criminal. They don’t see us as upright
people. Virtually all the people who use our buses are law abiding citizens out
to make an honest living. These attacks are therefore absolutely unnecessary,”
he said. Chronicle established that most of the buses that were attacked during
the riot are still in Botswana due to the extensive nature of damages inflicted.
Operators said the buses would be fixed in Botswana. A fierce riot erupted in
Gaborone on Tuesday when a mob of rampaging Batswana nationals ran amok and
indiscriminately attacked Zimbabweans. Five Zimbabwean buses had their windows
and windscreens smashed during the riot. Batswana nationals reportedly wanted to
mete out instant justice on a Zimbabwean man they accused of “drinking beer from
a beer can in public”. The riot police had to be called in to defuse the
situation, which erupted after the Zimbabwean man sought refuge from the
menacing Batswana at other Zimbabwean bound buses at the Gaborone long distance
bus rank. A Botswana newspaper known for its anti-Zimbabwe stance was on
Wednesday forced to concede that xenophobia against Zimbabweans was on the rise
following the incident. The Mmegi, which has attacked Chronicle for exposing ill
treatment of Zimbabweans in Botswana, acknowledged that Batswana were xenophobic
and called for a cessation of hostilities between nationalities of the two
countries.

Delegation appalled by Botswana laws (Harare, The Chronicle, 07/05)
- A delegation from the Department of Immigration which was in Botswana to seek
lasting solutions to the alleged ill-treatment of Zimbabweans in Botswana has
described customary laws in that country as “barbaric”. Chief immigration
officer Mr Elasto Mugwadi yesterday said during the three-day meeting, the
Botswana immigration officials indicated that in terms of their laws, it was
appropriate to lash offenders. “We felt such customary laws were archaic and
barbaric. It does not make sense for people to argue that they can apply their
customs on foreigners who do not pay allegiance to those customs,” Mr Mugwadi
said.The Zimbabwean officials were invited by their Botswana counterparts to
discuss the alleged assaults of locals in the neighbouring country.Mr Mugwadi
said the issue of the illtreatment of Zimbabweans should be viewed in the light
of no such reports being made in the case of the Batswana people who flock into
Zimbabwe every month.“According to our reports, at least 90 000 Batswanas visit
Zimbabwe to do their shopping in Bulawayo and we have not applied some of our
customary laws on them as they are not Zimbabweans.”Mr Mugwadi said they had
suggested to Botswana that they apply other forms of punishment to Zimbabweans
who violated the laws of Botswana such as fines, imprisonment and immediate
deportation. “We were informed that at the last Botswana Zimbabwe Permanent
Commission on Defence and Security held in Kasane last October, it was observed
that the matter of the lashing of Zimbabweans was already receiving attention at
political level,” Mr Mugwadi said. It was also noted that even after that
meeting, corporal punishment remained in the statutes of Botswana.“They said the
law enjoyed the support of the nationals who would not understand its removal
under any guise,” Mr Mugwadi said. He said although the Botswana officials made
it clear that their laws could not easily be changed unless the citizens so
wished, there was a quest from both parties to maintain good relations and
coexistence between the two countries. Mr Mugwadi said they also discussed other
matters that included problems some Zimbabweans were facing whenever they wanted
to repatriate bodies of deceased relatives from Botswana. “The immigration
officials said they would render assistance to the bereaved families in the
repatriation of bodies. “We do not think there is any person who could go into
another country to falsely claim a body of a person he or she does not know,” Mr
Mugwadi said. The two departments also agreed that police joint operations by
the two countries should be conducted regularly and visitors to either country
treated humanely.

Rwandan refugees refuse to go home (Financial Gazette, 06/05)
- Plans by the United Nations (UN) to repatriate thousands of Rwandan refugees
in Zimbabwe have hit a snag amid reports that the immigrants are resisting
efforts by the world body to return them to their country, purportedly for
security reason. The refugees reportedly told officials from the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Harare that they feared for their
lives if they returned to Kigali.Zimbabwe, reeling from a barrage of economic
problems, has become home to at least 13 000 refugees mainly from the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Burundi, who perceive the southern
African country as a safe haven for asylum seekers from the troubled Great Lakes
region. Currently, there are about 3 500 Rwandan refugees in Zimbabwe with at
least 500 of them living at Tongogara Refugee Camp in Chipinge, while the rest
are scattered in the country's urban areas. The UNHCR head of mission in
Zimbabwe, Grebe Kriston, and the agency's protection officer Ester Kigaro
visited the camp two weeks ago and held a meeting with the asylum seekers in
frantic efforts to persuade them to return home. However, the refugees indicated
to the UNHCR officials that they were unwilling to do so as they feared for
their security. "It's not yet safe to return to Rwanda because people are still
being kidnapped by government agents," said John Bagabo, a Rwandan national who
has been in the country since 1998, when internecine strife in the DRC further
compounded the instability in the Great Lakes region. Another refugee who
preferred to remain anonymous said: "There is a planned repatriation of
Rwandans, but we will not go back because the security situation is not yet
stable. Those currently fleeing Rwanda say the future is not promising." Reports
from Rwanda say the Tutsi-dominated government in Kigali has been beefing up
security on its border with the DRC to repel attacks by Hutu rebels calling
themselves Rwandan Democratic Liberation Forces. The Rwandan government has
reportedly stationed troops in the north-eastern part of the country and further
south near the Burundi border, while the Tutsi-led government of Paul Kagame is
alleged to have launched a witch-hunt trekking down Hutu intellectuals,
professionals and politicians. Officials from the UNHCR office in Harare
referred all questions to Isaac Mukaro, the commissioner of refugees in
Zimbabwe, who refused to comment on the planned repatriation. The Rwandans,
predominantly from the Hutu ethnic group, have been staying in Zimbabwe since
1994 when Kagame and his forces (then a rebel group) invaded Rwanda from Uganda
to end 100 days of bloodshed which saw over 800 000 mainly Tutsis and Hutu
moderates being brutally killed. Hutu extremists reportedly masterminded the
genocide.

Zimbabwean farmers land in Nigeria (This Day, 05/05)
- Kwara State government has allocated almost 200,000 hectares of prime
agricultural land to Zimbabwean commercial farmers wishing to relocate to
Nigeria - almost twice as much as they had bargained for. "We will do anything
in our power to make this project a success," said Permanent Secretary of Lands
and Housing, Mrs. Tayo Alao. "It will enhance the status of our people, who will
learn skills from the Zimbabweans," she said. She assured the farmers no
Nigerian villagers would lose their homes in the process, but conceded movement
of nomadic herders in the district would be curtailed. A second delegation of
Zimbabweans whose farms were seized under Robert Mugabe's land redistribution
programme arrived in Kwara state this week. Kwara governor Bukola Saraki has
been vigorously courting Zimbabwean farmers to kick-start commercial agriculture
in Nigeria since the dramatic success of their compatriots in Zambia late last
year. About 100 Zimbabwean farmers reportedly grew over 70 percent of Zambia's
2003 maize crop. On average Nigeria spends $1.5 billion on rice and dairy
imports a year, agriculture officials said. An import ban due to fall on a range
of agricultural products will leave a lucrative gap in the market. At a meeting
with the farmers in Kwara's capital Ilorin earlier this week Alao insisted local
residents would not be relocated. This apparently contradicts an earlier remark
by the state deputy surveyor-general Ezekiel Ajiboye that some villagers would
be resettled and compensated for land lost. "But we have made it clear to the
Fulani nomads they must steer clear of the Zimbabwean farms," said Alao. Last
weekend clashes in Plateau State between Muslim Fulani cattle herders and
Christian Tarok farmers over land and cattle reportedly claimed 100 lives. About
20 000 people live on land earmarked for a proposed Zimbabwean sugar cane
estate, village officials said. The estate comprises about 10 percent of total
land allocated. Alao was responding to concerns raised by the Zimbabweans their
arrival would coincide with land being seized from local peasants. "We know what
it feels like to be kicked off farms," said Alan Jack, who led delegations sent
by Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers Union. "If the same happens to the local
[Nigerian] population the project will fail because we will get a bad name,
locally and internationally." Other concerns included poor roads, lack of
services such as clinics and schools, and erratic electrical power provision and
telecommunications." This is worse than the [Zimbabwean] Lowveld in "62 and
worse than Zambia, where the farms were already marked out," said Allain
Faydherbe, who saw his sugar cane holdings shrink from 700 ha to 35 ha and spent
the weekend in jail under Mugabe's reforms. "It's virgin bush."But the farmers
regarded the Nigerian invitation a golden opportunity, despite the massive
capital investment required. An irrigation consultant who accompanied the group
said it would cost 30 farmers a total of $80 million to irrigate 27 000 hectares
of land. Another $80 million would have to be found for building and farming
equipment costs.Governor Saraki returned yesterday from a trip to Brussels to
woo investors. The farmers will present financing proposals to the governor
later this week.

Issue of citizenship renunciation forms (Harare, The Zimbabwe Herald, 05/05)
- The Registrar-General's Office has started issuing forms for special
renunciation to people who are citizens of other Southern African Development
Community countries by descent The forms are available at the provincial and
district offices of the RG's Office. The move follows the amendment of section 9
of the Citizenship Act by the Government last week. Special renunciation and
restoration will only apply to people born in Zimbabwe but whose parents
originate from fellow Sadc countries, particularly Mozambique, Malawi and
Zambia, and will be done in terms of the Zimbabwean law. Registrar-General Mr
Tobaiwa Mudede told The Herald that those who would benefit are descendants of
Sadc nationals who came to Zimbabwe to do menial jobs and not for commercial
purposes." This is meant to cater for descendants of Sadc nationals who came to
Zimbabwe before Independence in 1980 in search of employment as mine, domestic,
farm or unskilled workers," he said. Mr Mudede said the amendment of section 9
had helped his department to deal effectively with the problems posed by dual
citizenship in Southern Africa. The department, with the help of Sadc countries,
designed a form that has already been sent to district and provincial centres
for easy access by those who need to renounce or restore their citizenship. Mr
Mudede said the form would help to cut on people's travel costs and frustration
since they could now access it close to their areas of residence." Most people
lost their citizenship because they failed to travel to our provincial centres,
to Harare and to their embassies to renounce," Mr Mudede said. Senior
citizenship officer Mrs Badge Nyamunda said the forms were being issued to those
who would have satisfied the laid down procedures." Indeed we have started
implementing the Act and would like to assure our clients that we will be there
to assist them whenever possible," Mrs Nyamunda said. The special renunciation
and restoration exercise follows complaints from descendants of forebears from
neighbouring Sadc countries that they were being short-changed by the amended
Citizenship Act.

Chinese construction firms criticized (Zimbabwe Standard, 03/05)
- Zimbabwean contractors have criticised the government's procurement board for
awarding key contracts to Chinese companies ahead of local firms. The Zimbabwe
Building Contractors' Association, which represents the country's black-owned
construction companies, said contracts should be awarded to "competent people"
but the tendering process needed better transparency." Where people start asking
questions is when a company comes up with a higher bid but still wins the
contract, or when the bid is very low but there is no bid bond," ZBCA president
George Utaumire told StandardBusiness last week. A bid bond binds a company to
its offer and the bidder is penalised if they adjust or withdraw their offer.
Utaumire however responded with caution to industry concern that local firms
were being crowded out by the Chinese contractors, saying the threat to local
industry was not yet cause for alarm." We are convinced there is a trick here.
They indicate the least price on tender bids but make up for the actual price
and profit in the variations allowed in contract agreements due to cost
fluctuations," a contractor said. Most recently, Chinese company China Giansu
was awarded a tender for the construction of Lupane Provincial Hospital.
Documents show that the company underbid the lowest offer of $106 billion by
$7,8 billion. China Giansu last year also won a deal to build the Lupane
Government Composite office block. The company's winning bid was not covered by
a bid bond. Another Chinese company, Hualong, has been awarded a contract to
supply relocatable scanners to ZIMRA at the Beitbridge Border Post. Hualong is
also reportedly leading bids for the construction of the Chinhoyi Magistrates'
Court, after putting in a bid that was $3,6 billion lower than the lowest bid of
$21,1 billion.Officials in the construction industry last week said they suspect
the companies could be part of a single syndicate. There was no comment from the
Procurement Board last week. The government has also recently made tax
concessions to cement maker Sino Zimbabwe, a Zimbabwe-China joint venture,
exempting the company from non-residents' tax on fees.